again? >> i'll definitely be looking to support somebody else in the republican primaries. >> alleging the attack was part of a broad and well-organized conspiracy. >> a broad conspiracy. we know it was for donald trump's benefit. was he in on it? that's a big question tonight. msnbc's special coverage of this hearing starts right now. tonight, the january 6th investigation goes public with its findings for the first time. after a 10-month investigation, more than 1,000 interviews and depositions, the bipartisan investigation is ready to make its case to the american public. live and in primetime. they say we will see new evidence, previously unseen footage of the attack on our capitol and we will hear live testimony from witnesses from whom we have not heard before.

tonight, the january 6th hearings. good evening. thank you so much for being here with us tonight. we know that you have a lot of options for where to watch and how to watch tonight's hearing. it makes us all the more grateful that you have chosen to be here with us on msnbc. i'm rachel maddo with joy reid. tonight is a big night for us. a big night for american democracy. we have had a few other instances in our modern history of big, public hearings. all the networks scuttling their schedules to air the proceedings live, but none of us have ever covered something quite like this before. the january 6th investigation is about the first time in american history that the transfer of power between presidents was not peaceful. tonight in the ornate cannon caucus room inside the u.s. capitol the january 6 ths

investigators said they would give them a skralg amount. the investigators plan to show video footage from the attack that's never been seen by the public before, including some footage from a documentary filmmaker who was imbedded with the proud boys. members of the proud boichs were just charged with seditious conspiracy. we'll also hear live witness frm a capitol police officer named caroline edwards. we'll hear from her tonight.

we may hear taped interviews. among the 1,000 interviews rudy giuliani, bill barr, trump's daughter ivanka, white house adviser jared kushner. tonight's hearing convenes, of course, as the sprawling criminal investigation into the january 6th attack is very much ongoing. more than 800 people have been federally charged already including just today the fbi arresting a top republican candidate for governor of michigan. he was arrested today for his alleged participation in storming the capitol last january 6th. but the phrase january 6th as a sort of shorthand for this threat to american democracy. it's not about the immediate aftermath and it is not about some vague future potential threat. part of the reason these hearings are so important for american democracy tonight is this threat isn't just passed

and it isn't just imagined for the future, it's here. it's ongoing. just last month former president trump declared done. it's not something you have to worry might come around. it's here. we now know to expect false claims of fraud as a pretexts for throwing out election results. we now know that the playbook for throwing out election results includes spurious legal claims. we now know it includes violence. mob violence and by armed, trained paramilitary groups.

we now know this and forewarned that supposedly forearmed. tonight the january 6th vectors will show we the people what they've learned. what they've learned about understanding this threat so we as a country can face the threat. joy and nicole, it's really nice to be with you guys. i know that both of you have been talking to people on the hill, talking to people in politics in terms of what to expect tonight and the importance of tonight. what do you think? >> first of all, i have to say to quote a "lord of the rings" line, it's great to be here with you, my friends, at the end of all things. so, yes, this is important. this is historic. i don't think any of us has even covered a news story from this. even if you are separated from our capitol falling, it is an unprecedented thing that happened in this country.

i spent a lot of time talking to law enforcement officers who were there on that day and, you know, what's really come through to me and with family members of law enforcement and what they consistently have all said is that for them it's the gaslighting. it's people saying it didn't happen. that's what's made it the hardest to recover, to repair themselves emotionally. they're repairing physically and even that takes time for some of these officers. one i was on the phone with over an hour. this happened and why do i have to keep explaining to people, even people who know me, that it happened? so i think the most important thing, at least for the officers, at least the ones that i've spoken with. people see it, they watch it at 8:00. we love that they're watching here on msnbc, nbc, they would normally be watching entertainment. they see it, this happened. there's no denying it.

that's the one thing. and speaking with lawmakers and people connected to the committee. they said these are the things we should be watching out for. number one, what was trump told after the election? very important. what did he know about whether he had lost or not. the fact that he did know. he was told all the way up to william barr who was his ultra loyalist who told him, no, you lost. that was number one. >> that's important because that goes to whether or not he had a good faith belief it was a fraud. if he didn't, it was a pretexts, and that's evidence of criminal intent. >> and it's going to be a big part of it. the open is going to focus a lot on william barr. that was number one. the second thing is what he told his supporters to do anyway. on december 19th he says come to the capitol, it's going to be wild. setting up his supporters to

come anyway though he knows he lost. you know what's happening right now. those people at the capitol down the road, they're taking your rights away. you have to fight like hell now. that's number two. the third thing, what did people say. did people as mikey cheryl said. i couldn't find it. i've been covering politics most of my adults life. i kound find the speaker's lounge. who knew and what did people do about it? >> i interviewed kirsten lauria and there was some coverage this week. she's one of the only members other than liz cheney who faces some political peril for participation in the fact-finding mills. she talked about the evidence. our job is to be so close to the trees that the pine needles are in our nostrils. this is about the forest.

what the committee's stated mission is to present the for raes. what she said is the evidence makes the hair on the back of her neck stand up. that's not as a democrat. that's as a person. 100% of all-americans don't need to know the truth, you need the vast majority of people who voted in 2018, 2020 who voted for the alternative. it's a bit of a red herring to say, whoa, it's not -- who cares? you don't need all of the viewers to understand the facts. you need all-americans to understand what actually happened. the other thing i thought of, you anchored that day. we were all on as it happened. you were in this room. i was over there. there were different covid protocols at the time.

you were on with us from d.c., brian was wherever he was at home. we didn't know what had happened. they know when they were chanting hang mike pence donald trump was celebrating. they know what happened and they're going to tell the country what happened. >> it's an important point that there's been so much focus on what will be the political impact? will we have a shared collective american experience of these hearings? who knows. the important part here is that this was a huge national security vulnerability in our country that was exposed. >> an attack on the country. >> americans at large need to get real about that. the gas lighting has to stop. we need to be clear on the fact that it happened. ultimately i think this is a national security problem to be solved. we revealed to be secure. it is the job of the government and national security

professionals to make sure that that soft target is vortexed. you want the american people to come along, have a shared experience, all agree on the facts. whether we get this right, we broadcast to the entire world. our capitol was physically vulnerable to people. what does that say top the people. this is a demonstration to the american people of the facts. garrett, we want to know about the mood. we would guess it was tense but we want to know. >> reporter: it's definitely

tense. built up apprehension. this is the culmination of an investigation that we've all watched day by day and step by step since it began. you know, on paper this is a hearing tonight, but really it's a television production through and through. the committee has hired a tv news executive to put it on. even the cannon caucus room is that door just over my shoulder. that's not a hearing room, it's one of the largest rooms available in the capitol. they have transformed it. they installed one of the biggest television screens, like the imax of congressional screens to play some of the video content that they're going to be able to show tonight. they want to tell a comprehensive narrative. won't have the five minute rounds like we saw during impeachment. you won't have a counter nir rative being presented. it's one story told. one of the people is caroline

edwards. she tells a compelling forry about what that day was like. here's a little bit of my conversation with caroline edwards last year. >> when you start talking about it, all those things replay in your head, the images, the smells, the yelling. you know, the chaos. the blood. the -- i mean, it was -- that -- that day was a war zone. >> reporter: what is it for you that sticks in your head? >> the screaming. i -- when somebody shows me footage of the 6th, i have to have them turn off the sound because that sound, that screaming, that just constant -- i -- i can't hear it. it takes me back to a very bad

place. >> reporter: you guys all touched on this at the top. this is the whole point, to take a person like that to tell the story not to people who watch msnbc necessarily but to people who might have turned on their tv or csi. the masked singer. people who the committee hopes will be gripped by the evidence, including someone like officer edwards and be braud back into what really happened on that day and all the days leading up to it that got us to this point. >> garrett haake, thank you so much for that. that was really helpful in terms of us sort of getting our heads around what we are about to see. that was a clip of caroline edwards with live witness testimony. we are now less than -- of the january 6th hearing. she'll join us live here next. you'll want to see this.

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you can never again allow democracy to be put in peril as it was on january 6th. i thank the members of the select committee to determine what led to disaster on january 6th. what actually took place that day and what steps should be

taken to prevent such an attack on our democracy from ever happening again. >> u.s. capitol police officer harry dunn. tonight it's not actually the first public hearing of the january 6th investigation. the first public hearing was that one that you just saw him speak at. that was last summer, last july after the investigation was convened just the previous month. officer dunn and the capitol police sargeant and two d.c. metropolitan officers all offered the investigation. they described being assaulted. officer dunn specifically told the committee about having racial slurs screamed at him and having attackers telling him, quote, trump invited us here. interestingly, tonight all four of those officers who testified last summer, all four of them will be in attendance at tonight's hearing. none are testifying but those four officers are going to walk

in at tonight's hearing with the three widows of the officers who died in the aftermath. there is one officer who will testify. her name was caroline edwards. she was the first officer seriously injured by the mob that day. she suffered a traumatic brain injury. she's still coping with the injuries a year later. harry dunn trained officer caroline edwards. he has called her a shero. she's like a little sister to him. officer dunn, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us tonight. i know this is really an intense night for you and your colleagues. >> thanks for having me on. it is, but thank you. >> we know that you plan to attend tonight's hearing along with those other officers who are with you. we will be talking about the decision throb and to bring

those women with you and accompany them. it must have been a hard decision, i imagine. >> frankly, the decision was fairly easy. the decision to do it. actually doing it is a little challenging, but i want to back up a little bit about caroline and just seeing that her little -- her interview with garrett. she's such a sweet person and it bothers me that somebody that dedicated to the job, she's the definition of who you want as a police officer. she cares about people. she puts herself last behind people. she's just such a great person and what she went through and what everybody, we all went through. they didn't deserve that. good people don't deserve that type of stuff to happen. she's still working. she's still employed because it means that much to her. i just have to give her her kudos are at the capitol police who continue to show up despite

all of the -- let's call it push back that we've gotten for telling the truth that day. >> harry dunn, it's great to talk with you. i've got to start by asking, how are you all doing? you know, i mean, we saw the violence from our tv screens but those of you, as you said, as your former train 23450e. i took the blows, beatings. >> it's hard to speak for everybody. type a personalities like to just get over it, just move on. these hearings and the information that keeps coming out about what happened that day makes it harder to do that. i try to stay in front of it. i'm very public and in control.

i like to be in control of how i feel. you know, as much as i can. >> we're doing all right. i'm looking forward to hearing. >> we got to know the more public people out there. i wonder if you could -- just friends on the force, people on the cap tool police, metro police feel and they hear people like jack del rio, defins sieve coordinator for the commanders saying it's a dust up or minimize it. people are saying it wasn't an insurrection, it's just tourism. you know, it's really disappointing to hear people like jack del rio about how bad

the violence is. some people across this country experience it. it's very disingenuous of him to minimize what we went through just to elevate another horrible experience that cities experiences around the sum mergs. if he exact gore rises that as a dustup, that's just willful ignorance that clearly shows -- >> u.s. capitol police officer, harry dunn. another injured officer. expected to testify. care owe line meadows, thank you for your time tonight. nicole? >> i get to bring in our friend

and colleague at the washington post. caroline "i alone can fix it." and i fixated on this. the vice president's decision not to get in the car when he got to the basement. it seems the select committee worked and to tell the whole country, the the insurrection. super ultra conservative judge and donald trump's really lawless conduct and legal strategies from inside the oval. >> that's right, nicole.

the amazing split is that donald trump was using every lever of power that he had access to in the white house to try to bully and bluster, to -- the last-dint effort and true ideas that pence we know did not a move of and on this last slide as trump loses every other and in these hearings, new coal, you are going to hear people who were with pence who heard the president bully him in meetings. there were first hand efforts to get mike pence to refew in which

mike persons turns from angry pay the try okay r ott. while there's an armored limoed encouraging him to be, the news, despite the chance, he insist on staying. he's one of maybe half dozen people, that if they had done something differently that juan -- buy vm men in different pasture. >> it's absolutely the case. i wonder what you make of it. people went on fox news, folks

like mark. whether they support trump or don't. they say what happened. mark share the was with he and his family ljing greg jacob, lawyer from the hose president whom you'll flare who was with mump he is. >> many things in the mix. the words of donald trump are going to be what is front and

center. >> author of the book "zero fail." the rise and fall of the u.s. senate. carol, thank you for your time tonight. it's food to have you with us. >> glad to be here. >> you are watching along with us as buy see these live shots of the cannon cap taump -- it's not the floor of the house or sin nate, but aside from the two chambers, this is as bell bing a half an hour. stay with us.

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it's a double height room with big krystal chandeliers. very fancy. they'll use that room to begin brenting their case. there is a parallel dynamic that

looms in an interesting way over the investigations. more than 820 people have been charged by the u.s. justice plus, still 17 months after the attack. right now on the ca's violence. they have more 37b 50 other people lended. >> there's also still an fbi reward leading to the location, arrest and could be vikts of the person or persons responsible for putting pike bombs another the democratic and help can heart breakers. you have all of this evidence. >> the volume of the january 6th caseload for the department of justice is a stalemate but for the most part the alleged crimes, the ones they prosecuted

thus far, are kind of simple. i mean, to the extent there are violence and other crimes. that's the things for which they are being prosecuted. >> they're looking at how the attack came together and why. they're looking at the individual rioters in the crowd. tonight it remains an open question as to what the u.s. justice department may or may not do given what the investigation turns up with evidence of crimes at that level, at that larger level. that may be turned up by the investigation. that may be potentially shown to the public and hearings like the one we are about to see tonight. is the department of justice part of the crucial audience for tonight's hearing? what is the relationship between this hearing we are about to see and potential criminal charges who or kes streeted the effort

to overthrough the gov. following sus ari melber, host of the beat. you two are my favorite law people. thank you for being here tonight. do you think that is the right way to frame it and look at it in terms of these parallel things? >> i think it is. too many people have looked at the people that have been blamed so far and think that's the story. just because there were quote, unquote, ordinary folks that came to protests and got carried away in the moment and committed criminal acts, that doesn't mean there wasn't a criminal conspiracy to make it all happen. what the committee has done is saying something, a conspiracy pull the together, to try to

overturn the constitution and twisting it and making fraud and all of the things that are in the next week and a half that they have determined that the president and people around him were involved in. >> yeah. the claim that this was some sort of normal protest, some sort of random pro trump rally that accidentally burped out a riot is a bizarre claim. we always certify them on january 6th. somebody came up and said there should be a gigantic demonstration and president trump caused it. >> riots don't have weapons, don't have floor plans and

blueprints so i think tonight's hearing in its evidentiary magnitude is about more than what happened, it's about why it was so prepared and who called the play, we think of somebody in handcuffs. i don't think they intend to make criminal referrals about people who might have orchestrated this. even if we did have clarity on that, we have no clarity whether the pieces worked. are the upper echelons the most important. >> they're watching.

keep in mind most federal investigations are done very quietly, behind closed doors. grand jurys meet. there's leaks sometimes. this is really playing out. puts tremendous pressure on them. >> liz cheney started reading from the criminal code in january. we know exactly what crimes liz cheney thinks and we also have all sat here and covered what donald trump and his inner circle looks like when they're under it's a total view in how they view donald trump's conduct. >> meanwhile, since it happened, remember in the immediate aftermath of the attack the justice department right at the beginning was briefing on what they were looking at, how many

resources they were devoting to it. they were talking about sedition, seditious community. we've seen the charges brought. it's still mind blowing that we're talking about seditious conspiracy charges. it's something you would read about in your history book. we have two pro trump conspiracy groups, both charged with seditious conspiracy in january and now again this week. that puts it even sort of starker cast around the shadow. >> by the way, one of the things we're going to see in the hearing tonight is video, we've played it on our shows, of stewart rhodes, enrique, leaders of the oath boys and proud boys, meeting together. we don't know if there are witnesses to the sound. we know they were communing the day before. so i'd love to hear a little bit more about this seditious

conspiracy. >> why is that meeting important? >> the idea that these groups would be meeting together, coordinating ahead of the event, why does that matter? >> we're talking about the violent overthrow of the united states government f. it were a movie it sounds dramatic. it's literally what they're charged with. the question of this committee, it will take more tonight, it will begin tonight, how does that plan, which is premeditated and is overtly and directly overthrowing the government, how is that supported, tacitly or directly, by people in the white house that could go to president trump, navorro, other people who weren't in the white house but they might have had plots. the question about the sedition is, where was it going to land? could they have made enough noise and had enough of a physical presence in the congress that night that you would have woken up on the 7th without it being certified?

now you're two weeks outside of the transition. now you have the military and others wondering is the supreme court going to resolve this? who's the lawful president? the more that it looked like an actual plan to wake up the next day, if there's knowledge of that in the white house, there's potential charges inside the white house. >> you have donald trump speaking about noon. within an hour the capitol is being breached. he's already said we're going to the capitol, they're stealing your rights. you have members of congress who we have heard allegations walked people through the capitol so people knew where things were. not that american civics is taught in school, donald trump made january 6th important. he said you need to come here. he repeatedly from december 19th. we're going to have big rallies. come, it will be wild. members of congress seem to know. then you have the green bay

sweep. i don't know how all of those things could be separately happening and not being can it be conspiracy? >> i feel like you're getting existential. >> we've got to go better. >> i think the answer in plain english, people can show up somewhere and have a similar goal and not be chargeable because it is so disparate. they're on message boards, they all show up. as you just pointed out, joy, if people in the government, outgoing government, executive and legislative branch, are in that, trying to disrupt the proceedings, do it in a way the stuff goes missing. there is a siege of the question is constitutionally you have to certify it and move forward.

we haven't ever steen like this, but, yes, that's the question if it's chargeable. we are all going to be watching legislatively and legally, does this committee try to lead congress to use its powers to make a criminal r50e68 of one or more people or not. >> or do they lay out a compelling crime? >> the reason liz cheney is so focused on what donald trump did not do, because if i am arguing. he's glad it was happening. he sat there and watched it happened and everyone was trying to get him to do something. his daughter was trying to get him to do something. everyone was saying, please, go, stop this. he sat there because he was hoping it would work. and that really is an inference and i know this case wasn't a

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try parodontax active gum health mouthwash. at the top of the hour, we are expecting the january 6th investigation to start this public facing hearing in which they will begin to start outlining their findings to the american people. the first of the series of january 6th hearings hasn't yet started. we are all waiting for to start, like you are. but republicans in congress, they have not waited for it to get going. they are pretty bubble of tonight's proceedings is underway. >> pelosi select committee on january 6th is unlike any other committee in american history. in fact, it is the most political and least legitimate committee in american history. >> really? that's a republican message today, 17 months after the

attack. that gentlemen, kevin mccarthy, should meet this other guy who looks just like him, from the immediate aftermath of the attack. >> we cannot just sweep this under the rug. we need to know why it happened, who did it, and people need to be held accountable for it. i'm committed to making sure that happens. >> i'm committed to making sure that happens. that was then, this is now. today, nbc news also obtained new audio recordings that appear to be from a republican house member's conference call, the eve of the january 6th attack. this was january 5th, 2021. this next recording comes courtesy of jonathan martin and alex burns, authors of this will not pass, trump, biden, and the battle for america's future. this recording, from those authors, is congresswoman debbie lesko of arizona. this is the day before the attack. listen. >> i'm actually very concerned about this, because we have who knows how many hundreds of thousands of people coming

here. we have antifa, we also have, quite honestly, trump supporters who actually believe that we are going to overturn the election. and when that doesn't happen -- most likely, will not happen -- they are going to go nuts. >> congresswoman debbie lesko, telling her republican colleagues, the day before january 6th, that she was pretty sure trump supporters were going to go nuts, because they were expecting republicans to overturn the election. and if that didn't happen, they were going to need some security. they did go nuts. republican members of congress apparently knew they would and they used to be concerned about holding people accountable for it and getting to the bottom of how it came to pass. joining us now is michael steele, former chairman of the republican national committee. michael steele, it's great to see you. thanks for being here tonight. >> good to see you, rachel. good to be with you. >> what do you make of the republican effort to downplay the importance of these hearings, to swing against them, and to mount this sort of counter messaging effort?

>> well, when you know you are in the crosshairs and your team is in the fire, we'll see you're going to do? lie, deflect, shift, you are going to try to change the narrative. the kevin mccarthy of january 11th is the true moment, that that's how, virtually, every republican felt that day. the kevin mccarthy of today's the fictitious character who is playing the role that donald trump wants him to play. the key thing about this committee's work, starting tonight, turns on -- for me at, least one word -- accountability. kevin mccarthy used it on january 11th. and you heard that, pretty much, in wet lesko was saying, when she was talking about, we know these people are going to go nuts. and yet and still, the next day, you had republican leaders going on that stage to incite those folks to do exactly that. so, there has to be some level of accountability in this

conversation, that begins tonight, with the country. i expect that to happen, along with damning video, damning audio. and then, watching the republicans continue to pivot into the lie that this is a nothing burger. >> michael, this is nikole. a former colleague of both of ours called me today and said i haven't seen liz cheney this focused on a threat to the country since the post 9/11 era. she talked about trumpism as the existential threat to democracy, the same way she used to talk about those threats. i wonder what you are watching for in liz cheney tonight. >> i am watching for her to be the leader that she has been. i think, in many respects, the country -- democrats and republicans both -- are looking not to disregard what's the chairman, thompson, is going to be doing, but the reality of it is, liz cheney, playing the role that she is playing, to be that woman with the clarity and call towards

democracy coming out of the ranks of the party of insurrection -- i think it's a very powerful, opening moment for the country. and i'm hoping, nicole, that people are actually paying attention to this. i am really concerned that the pre rebuttal that rachael referred to is being absorbed by way too many americans. and i'm hoping that what she has to say, what adam kinzinger has to say, cuts through that noise, that they are trying to create, to distract us from their deeds. not our deeds, they are deeds, on january 6th. >> michael steele, it's joy reid, great to see you. >> great to see you. >> on that same note, how important do you think it is -- this is a bipartisan committee, we are just going to hear from the chair and vice chair, are democrat and republican. we will be focused on their questions alone. to me, that feels more like

watergate style hearings, a friend of our said earlier this evening. is that important? that we just hear this bipartisan voice coming from the committee chair? from the day's? >> i think it's very, very important. we need both of these co-chairs to set the narrative for us. not that it is coming just from democrats or republicans. but it's coming from the combined effort, the consensus, the overall engagement by both sides to get to the bottom of this. i think that can play a very important role, to go back to when i was saying, to pull the nations attention to it a bit more closely. and further away from the idea, joy, that they can say, this is just a partisan hack moment by the democrats. or liz cheney is just showing off because she got dinged by her party. they can get past all of that, just in how they set in motion this conversation we are about to have. and i feel really good about the way they are trying to

structure this and set it up. we will see how the country responds to it. but i think it's a good way to open it up, saying, look, this isn't about dems and republicans, this is about us. this is about country. that, i think, is going to be an important way to begin. >> michael, i'm curious. it's clare. >> hey, clear. >> do you sense any softening around the problem of other republicans seeing liz cheney being so strong? do you sense there's any weakness anywhere, or has everyone really solidified in the trump cult? and there will be no one that will speak out regardless of how powerful the presentations are over the next week and a half? >> clare, you actually put your finger on a very interesting point. and i'm actually glad you did because i was just reading some analysis from some polling, that a number of democracy groups have been doing. one, the first part of the answer is, that cabal, inside

the house, particularly among the house republicans, no, don't waste your time with him. put out in the country, right now, there is a growing number of conservative republicans -- not just conservatives, but conservative republicans -- who are looking for accountability. and there has been some tracking of polling that shows that over the past few months, that number has been increasing, which is why the accountability piece is going to be so important. >> michael steele, thank you for joining us. as always, i will tell you right now, it is a top of the hour. we are looking at live images of the cannon caucus room at the u.s. capital. members of the january 6th investigation are about to enter the room and take their seats. in terms of what we are expecting here, chair bennie thompson is expected to gavel the session. as joy was saying, we expect opening statements from chair thompson and from the republican vice chair, liz cheney. we also know they are to live witnesses slated to testify tonight. a capitol police officer who

was injured in the attack -- also, a documentary filmmaker who captured footage on january 6th we will be seeing for the first time tonight. he was embedded with the pro trump paramilitary group, the proud boys, that was the subject of a seditious conspiracy federal felony indictment earlier this week. we are also expecting to see excerpts from taped interviews that the investigators have conducted with high-profile trump officials. again, they have interviewed more than 1000 witnesses. these have been closed or interviews. we will see tape from some of those tonight. i should also warn you that some of the footage that the committee may plan to air tonight may contain profanity and disturbing images. we will air those things as they are interceding. we apologize for the extent that is necessary. but here now, is the public hearing that will lay out findings for the american people regarding the january

6th investigation. the select committee to investigate the january 6th attack on the united states capitol will be in order. without objection, the chair is authorized to declare the committee in recess at any point. the senate, the house deposition authority regulation ten, the chair announces the committees approval to release the deposition material

presented during tonight's hearing. thanks to everyone watching tonight for sharing part of your evening, to learn the facts and causes of the events leading up to and including the violent attack on january 6th, 2021. our democracy, electoral system and country. i'm bennie thompson, chairman of the january 6th 2021 committee. i was born and raised in bolton, mississippi, a town with a population of 521, which is midway between jackson and vicksburg, mississippi. and the mississippi river. i'm from a part of the country where people justify the actions of slavery, the ku klux klan, and lynching. i'm reminded of that dark history as i hear voices today trying to justify the actions

of the insurrectionists on january 6th, 2021. over the next few weeks, hopefully we'll get to know the other members, my colleagues up here, and me. we representative our city of communities from all over the united states. rural areas and cities, east coast, west coast and the heartland. all of us have one thing in common. we swore the same oath. that same oath that all members of congress take upon taking office, and afterwards, every two years that they are reelected. we swore an oath to defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. the words of the current oath taken by all of us, that nearly every united states government employee takes, have their

roots in the civil war. throughout our history, the united states has fought against foreign enemies to preserve our democracy, electoral system and country. when the united states capitol was stormed and burned in 1814, foreign enemies were responsible. afterward, in 1862, when american citizens had taken up arms against this country, congress adopted a new oath to help make sure no person who had supported the rebellion could hold a position of public trust. therefore, congress persons in the united states federal government employees were required, for the first time to swear an oath to defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. that oath was put to test on january 6th, 2021.

the police officers who held the line that day honor their oath. many came out of that day bloodied and broken. they still bear those wounds, visible and invisible. they did their duty. they repelled the mob and ended the occupation of the capital capitol. they defended the constitution against domestic enemies so that congress could return, uphold their own oath and count your votes, to ensure the transfer of power, just as we have done for hundreds of years. but unlike in 1814, it was domestic enemies of the constitution who stormed the capitol and occupied the capitol, who sought to thwart the will of the people, to stop the transfer of power.

and so they did. at the encouragement of the president of the united states. the president of the united states, trying to stop the transfer of power, a precedent that had stood for 220 years, even as our democracy had faced its most difficult test. thinking back again to the civil war, in the summer of 1864, the president of the united states believed we would be doomed to -- [inaudible] bid for reelection. he believed his opponent, general george mcclelland, would wave the white flag when it came to preserving the union. but even with that grim fate hanging in the balance, president lincoln was ready to accept the will of the voters, come what may. he made a quiet pledge. he wrote down the words, this

morning, as for sundays past, it seems exceedingly probable that this administration will not be reelected. and it will be my duty to sow cooperate with the president elect. it will be my duty. lincoln sealed that memo and asked his cabinet secretaries to sign it, sight unseen. he asked them to make them the same commitment he did to accept defeat if indeed defeat was the will of the people, to uphold the rule of law, to do whatever the president who came before him did and what every president who followed him would do. until donald trump. donald trump lost the presidential election in 2020. the american people voted him out of office. it was not because of a rigged

system. it was not because of voter fraud. don't believe me? hear what his former attorney general had to say about it. i warn those who are watching that this contains strong language. >> now, just what i have been through -- i had three discussions with the president i can recall. one was on november 23rd. mom weighs on december 1st. one was on december 14th. and i've been through the give and take of those discussions. in that context, i made it clear i did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which i told the president was bs. and i didn't want to be a part of it. that's one of the reasons i went into deciding believing what i did. i observed --

i think it was -- you can't live in a world where the incumbent administration stays in power, based on its view, and supported by specific evidence, that there was fraud in the election. >> bill barr, on election day, 2020. he was the attorney general of the united states. the top law enforcement official in the country, telling the president exactly what he thought about claims of a stolen election. donald trump had his days in court to challenge the results, he was within his rights to seek that judgment in the united states lawn -- had that for pursuing justice and he lost in the courts just as he did. that's the end of the line. but for donald trump, that was

only the beginning of what became the sprawling, multi step conspiracy, aimed at overturning the presidential election. aimed at throwing out the votes of millions of americans, your votes, your voice in our democracy, and replacing the will of the american people with his will to remain in power after his term ended. donald trump was at the center of this conspiracy. and ultimately, donald trump, the president of the united states, spurred a mob of domestic enemies of the constitution, they marched down the capital and -- subvert american democracy. any legal jargon you hear about seditious conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the united states boils down to this. january 6th was the culmination

of an attempted coup, a brazen attempt, as one rioter put it, shortly after january 6th, to overthrow the government. the violence was no accident. it represents -- last stand, most desperate chance to halt the transfer of power. you may hear those words and think, this is just another political attack on donald trump by people who don't like him. that's not the case. my colleagues and i clearly wanted an outside, independent commission to investigate january 6th. [inaudible] similar to what we heard after 9/11. [inaudible] idea, down trump's allies in congress put a stop to it, apparently they don't want january 6th investigated at all. and in the last 17 months, many

of those same people have tried to whitewash what happened on january 6th, to rewrite history, call it a tourist visit, label it legitimate political discourse. donald trump and his followers have adopted the words of the songwriter, do you believe me or your lying eyes? we can't sweep what happened under the rug. the american people deserve answers. so, i come before you this evening, not as a democrat, but as an american who swore an oath to the defend the constitution. the constitution doesn't protect just democrats or just republicans. it protects all of us. we the people. and this scheme was an attempt to undermine the will of the people. so, tonight, and over the next few weeks, we are going to

remind you of the reality of what happened that day. our work must do much more than just look backwards. the cause of our democracy remains in danger. the conspiracy to thwart the will of the people is not over. there are those in this audience who thirst for power but have no love or respect for what makes america great. devotion to the constitution. allegiance to the rule of law, our shared journey to build a more perfect union. january 6th and the lies that led to insurrection have put two and a half centuries of constitutional democracy at risk. the world is watching what we do here. america has long been expected to be a shining city on the hill, a beacon of hope and freedom. a model for others when we are

at our best. how can we play that role when our house is in such a disorder? we must confront the truth with candor, resolve and determination. we need to show that we are worthy of the gifts that are the birthright of every american. that begins here. and it begins now, with a true accounting of what happened and what led to the attack on our constitution and our democracy. in this moment, when the dangers of our constitution and democracy loom large, nothing could be more important? working alongside the public servants on this dais has been one of the greatest honors of my time in congress. it's been a particular privilege, to count as a partner in this effort, and to count as a friend, the gentlewoman from wyoming, liz

cheney. she is a patriot, a public servant, a profound courage. of devotion to her oath and the constitution. it is my pleasure to recognize liz cheney for an opening statement. >> thank you very much, mister chairman, and let me echo those words of bipartisanship. tremendous honor to work on this committee. chairman, at 6:01 pm, on january 6th, after we spent hours the violent mob, the siege, attack, and invade our capital. donald trump tweeted that he did not condemn the attack. instead, he justified it. these are the things and events that happened, he said, when a so unceremoniously and -- who have been badly treated for so long.

as you will see in the hearings to come, president trump believed his supporters at the capital -- and i quote, we are doing what they should be doing. this is what he told his staff as they pleaded with him to call off the mob to instruct his supporters to leave. over a series of hearings in the coming weeks, you will hear testimony, live and on video, from more than half a dozen former white house staff in the trump administration. all of whom were in the west wing of the white house on january 6th. you will hear testimony that, quote the president did not really want to put anything out, calling off the riot or asking his supporters to leave. you will hear that president trump was yelling and, quote, really angry act advisers who told him he needed to be doing something more. and aware of the rioters chance to hang mike pence, the

president responded with this sentiment -- quote, maybe our supporters have the right idea. mike pence, quote, deserves it. you will hear evidence that president trump refused for hours to do what his staff, his family and many of his other advisers begged him to do. immediately instruct his supporters to stand down and evacuate the capital capitol. tonight you will see never before seen footage of the brutal attack on the capitol, an attack that unfolded while a few blocks away, president trump sat watching television in the dining room next to the oval office. you will hear audio from the brave police officers battling for their lives and hours, fighting to defend our democracy against a violent mob donald trump refused to call off. tonight, and in the weeks to come, you will see evidence of what motivated this violence,

including directly from those who participated in this attack. you will see video of them explaining what caused them to do it. you will see their post on social media. we will show you what they have said in federal court. on this point, there is no room for debate. those who invaded our capitol embattled law enforcement for hours were motivated by what president trump had told them, that the election was stolen and that he was the rightful president. president trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack. you will hear about plots to commit seditious conspiracy on january 6th, a crime defined in our laws as conspiring to overthrow, put down or destroy by force the government of the united states. or to oppose by force the authority thereof. multiple members of two groups

-- the oath keepers and the proud boys -- have been charged with this crime for their involvement in the events leading up to and on january 6th. some have pled guilty. the attack on our capital was not a spontaneous riot. intelligence available before january 6th identified plans to, quote, invade the capital, occupy the capital capitol and take other steps to halt congress's count of electoral votes that day. in hearings to come, we will identify elements of those plans. and we will show specifically how a group of proud boys led a mob into the capitol building on january since sixth. tonight, i will describe some of what our committee has learned and highlight initial findings you will see this month in our hearings. as you hear this, all americans should keep in mind this fact. on the morning of january 6th

president trump's intention was to remain president of the united states, despite the lawful outcome of the 2020 election and in violation of his constitutional obligation to relinquish power. >> over multiple months, donald trump oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of presidential power. in our hearings, you will see evidence of each elements of this plan. in our second hearing, you will see that donald trump and his advisers knew that he had in fact lost the election. but despite this, president trump engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information. to convince huge portions of the u.s. population that fraud had stolen the election from him. this was not true. jason miller was a senior trump

campaign spokesman. in this clip, miller describes a call between the trump campaign's internal data expert. and president trump, a few days after the 2020 election. >> i was in the oval office, and at some point the conversation, maddow scowl ski who is the lead that a person, who was brought on, and i remember he delivered to the president pretty blunt terms that he was going to lose. >> and that was based on mr. mueller, on math and the data teams assessment of the sort of county by county, state by state, results as reported? >> correct. >> alex cannon was one of president trump's campaign lawyers. he previously worked for the trump organization. one of his responsibilities was to assess allegations of

election fraud in november 2020. here is one sample of his testimony discussing what he told white house chief of staff mark meadows. >> i remember a call with mr. meadows where mr. meadows was asking me when i was finding and if i was finding anything. and i remember sharing with him that we weren't finding anything. that would be sufficient to change the results in any of the key states. >> when was that conversation? >> probably in november, mid to late november. i think it was before my child was born. >> and what was mr. meadows reaction to that information? >> i believe the words he used were, so there is no there there? >> there is no there there. the trump campaign's general counsel matt morgan gave

similar testimony. he explained that all of the fraud allegations and the campaign's other election arguments taken together and viewed in the best possible light for president trump could still not change the outcome of the election. president trump's attorney general bill barr, also told donald trump his election claims were wrong. >> repeatedly told the president no one in certain terms, i had not seen evidence of fraud. that would have affected the outcome of the election. frankly, a year and a half later, i haven't seen anything to change my mind on that. >> attorney general barr also told president trump that his allegations about dominion voting machines were groundless.

>> i saw absolutely zero basis for the allegations, but they were made in such a sensational way, that they obviously were influencing a lot of people, members of the public, that there was this systemic corruption in the system. that their votes didn't count, that these machines controlled by somebody else were actually determining it. which was complete nonsense. and it was being laid out there. i told him that it was crazy stuff. they were wasting their time on that. it was doing great great disservice to the contrary. >> the president trump persisted repeated the false dominion allegations in public, at least a dozen more times, even after his attorney general told him that they were quote, complete nonsense. and after barr's resignation on december 23rd, the acting attorney who replaced him, jeff rosen, and the acting deputy,

richard donahue, told president trump, over and over again, that the evidence did not support allegations he was making in public. many of president trump's white house staff also recognized that the evidence did not support the claims president trump was making. this is the president's daughter. commenting on bill barr's statement, that the department found no fraud sufficient to overturn the election. >> how did that affect your perspective about the election when barr made that statement? >> it affected my perspective. i respect attorney general barr. so i accepted what he said and what we he was saying. >> as you will hear on monday, the president had every way to litigate his campaign claims. but he ultimately lost more than 60 cases in state and federal courts. the presidents claims in the election cases were so frivolous and unsupported, that

the president's lead lawyer, rudy giuliani, not only lost the lawsuits, his license to practice law was suspended. here is what the court said of mr. giuliani. giuliani communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former president donald j trump and the trump campaign in connection with trump's failed efforts as reelection in 2020. >> as you will see and greatly tale in our hearings, president trump ignored the rulings of our nations courts. he ignored his own campaign leadership, his white house staff, many republican state officials, ignored the department of justice, and the department of homeland security. president trump invested millions of dollars of campaign funds purposely spreading false information. running ads he knew were false.

and convincing millions of americans that the election was corrupt. and that he was a true president. as you will see, this misinformation campaign provoked the violence on january 6th. and our third hearing, you will see the president trump corruptly plans to replace the attorney general of the united states so that the u.s. justice department would spread his false stolen election claims. in the days before january 6th, president trump told his top justice department officials, quote, just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressman. senior justice department officials, men he had appointed, told him they could not do that, because it was not true. so president trump decided to replace them. he offered jeff clark, an environmental lawyer at the justice department, the job of acting attorney general.

president trump wanted mr. clark to take a number of steps, including sending this letter to georgia and five other states, saying the u.s. department of justice had quote, identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election. this letter is a lie. the department of justice had in fact repeatedly told president trump exactly the opposite. that they had investigated his stolen election allegations, and found no credible fraud that could impact the outcome of the election. this letter and others like it would have urged multiple states to withdraw their official and lawful electoral votes for biden. acting deputy attorney general, richard donahue, describe jeff clark's letter this way. quote, this would be a great step for the department to state take, and could have tremendous constitutional, political, and social

ramifications for this country. the committee agrees with mr. donahue's assessment. had clark assume the role of attorney general, in the days before january 6th, and issued these letters, the ramifications could indeed have been grave. mr. donahue also said this, about clark's claim. >> and i recall towards the end what you are saying is proposing is nothing less than the united states justice department meddling the outcome of the presidential election. >> and now we're hearing, you will hear firsthand how the senior leadership of the department of justice threatened to resign. up the white house counsel threatened to resign. and how they confronted donald trump and jeff clark in the oval office. the men involved including acting attorney general, jeff rosen, and acting deputy attorney general richard donahue, were appointed by president trump. these men honor their oath of office, they did their duty, and you will hear from them in our hearings. by contrast, jeff clarke has

invoked his fifth amendment privilege against self incrimination, and refused to testify. representative scott perry, who was also involved and trying to get clark appointed as attorney general, has refused to testify here. as you will see, representative perry contacted the white house, in the weeks after january 6th, to seek a presidential pardon. multiple other republican congressman also sought president pardons for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election. in our fourth year hearing, you we will focus on presidents efforts to pressure vice president mike pence to refuse to count electoral votes on january 6th. vice president pence has spoken publicly about this. >> president trump is wrong. i had no right to overturn the election, the presidency belongs to the american people, and the american people alone.

and frankly, there is no idea more un-american than the notion that any one person could choose the american president. >> what president trump demanded that mike pence do wasn't just wrong, it was illegal, and it was unconstitutional. you will hear this and great detail from the vice president's former general counsel. witnesses in these hearings will explain how the former vice president and his staff informed president trump over and over again, that what he was pressuring mike pence to do was illegal. as you will hear, president trump engaged and a relentless effort to pressure pants, both and private and public. you will see the evidence of that pressure for multiple witnesses live and on video. vice president pence demonstrated his loyalty to donald trump consistently over four years. but he knew that he had a higher duty to the united states constitution.

this is testimony from the vice presidents chief of staff. >> i think the vice president was proud of his four years of service and he fought like an had much been accomplished in his four years. i think he was proud to have stayed beside the president for all that had been done. but i think he ultimately knew that his fidelity of the constitution was first and foremost oath. and that's what he articulated publicly, and i think that's what he felt. his fidelity to the constitution was more important to his fidelity to president trump and his? >> the oath that he took. >> yes? >> you also hear about a lawyer named john eastman. mr. eastman was deeply involved in president trump's plans. you will hear from former fort circuit federal judge michael lieu. a highly respectful conservative judge. john eastman clerked for judge lunatic. judge lueck provided council for the price vice presidents team before january six.

the judge will explain how eastman quote, was wrong and every turn. and you will see the email exchange between eastman and the vice president's counsel as the violent attack on congress was underway. mr. jacobs said this to mr. eastman. >> thanks to your bought it, we are under siege. you will also see evidence that john eastman did not actually believe the legal position that he was taking. in fact a month before the 2020 election, eastman took exactly the opposite view on the same legal issues. in the course of the select committee's work to obtain information from mr. eastman, we have had occasion to present evidence to a federal judge. the judge evaluated the facts, and he reached the conclusion that president trump's efforts to pressure vice president pence to act illegally by refusing to count electoral votes, likely violated to federal criminal statutes.

and the judge also said this. if doctor eastman and president trump's plan had worked, it will permanently ended the peaceful transition of power, undermining american democracy and the constitutional constitution. if the country does not commit to investigating and pursuing accountable for those responsible, the corpus january 6th will repeat itself. every american should be with this federal judge has written. the same judge, judge, carter issued another decision on tuesday night. just this week. indicating that john eastman, and other trump lawyers knew that their legal arguments had no real chance of success in court. that they were lied on those arguments anyways, to try to quote, overturn a democratic election. and you will hear, that while congress was on attack, on january 6th, and the hours following the violence, the legal team and the willard hotel war room, continue to

work to halt the count of electoral votes. in our fifth hearing, you will see evidence that president trump corruptly state legislators and election officials to change election results. you will hear additional details about president trump called the georgia officials, urging them to quote, find 11,780 votes. both that did not exist. and his efforts to get states to recent certified electoral slates, without factual basis, and contrary to law. you will hear new details about the trump campaign, and other trump associates efforts to instruct republican officials, and multiple states, to create intentionally false electoral slates, and transmit those flights to congress. so the vice presidents, and the national archives. falsely certifying that trump won states he. actually lost. and our final june hearings,

you will hear, how president trump summit up violent mob and directed them illegally to march on the united states capitol. while the violence was underway, president trump failed to take immediate action to stop the violence and instruct his supporters to leave the capitol. as we present these initial findings, keep to keep points in mind. first, our investigation is still ongoing. so what we made public here will not be the complete set of information we will ultimately disclose. and seconds, the department of justice is currently working with cooperating witnesses. and is this closed today only some of the information is identified from encrypted communications, and other sources. on december 18th, 2020. a group including general michael flynn, sydney powell, rudy giuliani, and others, visited the white house. they stayed lights into the evening. we know that the group

discussed a number of dramatic steps, including having the military seize voting machines, and potentially we run elections. you will also hear that president trump met with that group alone, for a period of time, before the white house lawyers and other staff discovered the group was there and rushed to intervene. a little more than an hour after miss powell, mr. giuliani, general flynn, and the others, finally left the white house, president trump sent the tweet on the screen now. >> telling people to come to washington on january six, be there, he instructed them, we will be wild. >> it will be a pivotal moment, this tweet, initiated a chain of events, the tweet led to the planning for what occurred on january six including by the proud boys, who ultimately led the invasion of the capitol. and the violence on that day. the indictment of a group of

proud boys alleges that they plan to quote, to oppose by force, the authority of the government of the united states. according to the department of, on january six 2021 the defendant directed mobilized and led members of the pro crowd onto the capitol grounds and into the capital. leading the dismantling of metal barricades destruction of property breaching of, capital buildings, and the assault on law enforcement. although certain trump officials argued they do not anticipate violence on january six, the evidence suggest otherwise. as you hear in our hearings the white house received special specific reports in the days leading up to january six. including during president trump's ellipse rally indicating that elements in the crowd were preparing for violence at the capitol. crowd were preparing for and on the evening of january 5th, the presidents close

advisor, steve bannon, said this on his podcast. >> all hell is going to break loose tomorrow, just understand this. all hell is going to break loose tomorrow. >> as part of our investigation, we will present information about what the white house and other intelligence agencies knew. and why the capital was not better prepared. we will not lose sight of the fact that the capitol police did not cause the crowd to attack. and we will not blame the violence that day. violence provoked by donald trump on the officers who bravely defended all of us. in our final hearing, you will hear moment by moment accounts of the hours-long attack from more than half a dozen white house staff, both live, in the hearing room, and via videotape testimony. there is no doubt that president trump was well aware

of the violence as it developed. white house staff urged president trump to intervene and call off the mob. here is a document written when the attack was underway by a member of the white house staff, advising with the president need to say. quote, anyone who entered the capitol without proper authority should leave immediately. this is exactly what his supporters on capitol hill and nationwide were urging him to do. you will hear that leaders on the capitol hill begged the president for help, including republican leader mccarthy who was, quote, scared. and called multiple members of president trump's family after he could not persuade president trump himself. not only did president trump refused to tell the mob to leave the capital. he placed no call to any element of the united states government to instruct that the capitol he defended. he did not call his secretary

of defense on january 6th. he did not talk to his attorney general. he did not talk to the department of homeland security. president trump gave no order to deploy the national guard that day. and he made no effort to work with the department of justice to coordinate and deploy law enforcement assets. vice president pence did each of those things. for example, here is what general milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, testified to this committee. >> they were two or three calls with vice president pence. he was very animated and he issued very explicit, very direct -- there is no question about that. and i can get you the exact quotes, i guess, from some of our records. but he was very animated, very direct, very firm. and to secretary miller, get the military down there, get

the guard down there, put down this situation, et cetera. >> by contrast, here is general milley's description of his conversation with president trump's chief of staff, mark meadows, on january 6th. >> he said, we have to kill the narrative that the vice president is making all the decisions. we need to establish the narrative that the president is still in charge. and that things are steady or stable. politics, politics, politics. red flag for me, no action. but i remember distinctly. >> and you will hear from witnesses how the day played out inside the white house on multiple white house staff resigned in disgust. and how president trump would not ask his supporters to leave

the capitol. he's only after multiple hours of violence that president trump finally released a video, instructing the riotous mob to leave. and as he did so, he said to them, quote, we love you. and you are very special. you will also hear that in the immediate aftermath of january 6th, members of the presidents family, white house staff and others tried to step in to stabilize the situation. quote, to land the plane before the presidential transition on january 20th. you will hear about members of the trump cabinet discussing the possibility of invoking the 25th amendment and replacing the president of the united states. multiple members of president trump's own cabinet and mott resigned immediately after january 6th. one member of the cabinet suggested that the remaining cabinet officers needed to make take a more active role in

running the white house and the administration. but most emblematic of those days is this exchange of texts between sean hannity and former president -- trump's president second press secretary, kayleigh mcenany. hannity wrote, in part, key now, no more crazy people. no more stolen election top. yes, impeachment and 25th amendment are real. many people will quit. liz mcenany responded in part, love that. that's the playbook. the white house staff knew that president trump was willing to entertain and use conspiracy theories to achieve his ends. he knew the president needed to be cut off from all those who had encouraged them. they knew that president donald trump was too dangerous to be left alone. at least until he left office on january 20th, these are important facts for congress

and the american people to understand fully. when a president fails to take the steps necessary to preserve our union, or worse, causes a constitutional crisis, we are at a moment of maximum danger for our republic. some in the white house took responsible steps to try to prevent january 6th. others begged the president on. others who could have acted refused to do so. in this case, the white house counsel was so concerned about potentially lawless activity that he threatened to resign multiple times. that is exceedingly rare and exceedingly serious. it requires immediate attention, especially when the entire team threatens to resign. however, in the trump white house, it was not exceedingly rare. and it was not treated seriously. this is a cliff of jared kushner addressing multiple threats by white house counsel

pat cipollone and his team of lawyers to resign in the weeks before january 6th. >> jarred, are you aware of instances where pat cipollone threatened to resign? >> like i said, my interest at that time was on trying to get as many [inaudible] done. and i know him in the team were always saying, we are going to resign, we are not going to be there if this happened, if that happens. so i kind of took it up to be just whining, to be honest with you. >> whining. there's a reason why people in our government taken oath to the constitution. as our founding fathers recognized, democracy is fragile. the people in positions of public trust are duty bound to defend it, to step forward when action is required. in our country, we don't swear an oath to an individual or political party. we take our oath to defend the

united states constitution. and that oath must mean something. tonight, i say this to my republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible. they will come a day when donald trump is gone, that your dishonor will remain. finally, i ask all of our fellow americans, as you watch our hearings over the coming weeks, please remember what is at stake. remember the men and women who fought and died so that we can live under the rule of law, not the rule of men. i ask you to think of the scene in our capitol rotunda on the night of january 6th. they are in a sacred space in our constitutional republic, the place where our presidents lie in state, washed over by statues of washington and jefferson, eisenhower, forward, and reagan, against every wall that night in circling the room, there were swat teams. men and women in tactical gear with long guns, deployed inside

our capitol building. they are in the rotunda, these brave men and women rested beneath paintings depicting the earliest scenes of our republic, including one painted in 1824, depicting george washington resigning his commission, voluntarily relinquishing power, and in control of the continental army back to congress. with this noble act, washington's at the indispensable example of the peaceful transfer of power. what president reagan called, nothing less than a miracle. the sacred obligation to defend this peaceful transfer of power has been honored by every american president, except one. as americans, we all have a duty to ensure that what happened on january 6th never happens again, to set aside partisan battles. to stand together to perpetuate and preserve our great

republic. thank you, mister chairman. >> as we provide answers to the american people about january 6th, it's important that we remember exactly what took place. that this was no tourist visit to the capital capitol. most of the footage we are about to play has never been seen. the select committee obtained it as a part of our investigation. this isn't easy to watch. i want to warn everyone that this video includes violence and strong language. without objection, i include in the record a video presentation of the violence of january 6th. >> [inaudible] >> the advise, there is

probably about 300 proud boys. they are marching eastbound. and it's 400 block of kind of independent [inaudible] towards the mall, towards the united states capitol. >> i am not allowed to say what is going to happen today. because everyone is just going to have to watch for themselves. but it's going to happen. something is going to happen. >> who is streets? our streets! whose streets? >> our streets! [inaudible] >> hurt you [inaudible] >> don't make us go against you. >> [inaudible] inside. these are our streets. >> [inaudible] >> i hope mike is going to do the hope right thing. i hope so, i hope so. because if mike pence does the

right thing, we win the election. all vice president pence has to do is send it back to the states, to recertify. and we become president and you are the happiest people. mike pence is going to have to come through for us. and if he doesn't, that will be a sad day for our country. because you'll never, ever take back our country with weakness. you have to show shrank then you have to be strong. >> usa, usa! >> usa, usa! >> [inaudible] cruiser [inaudible] looks like we are going to have a ad hoc march. [inaudible] crowd heading east. >> we love trump! we love trump! we love trump! we love trump! >> mike pence, i hope you are going to stand up for the good of our constitution and for the

good of our country. and if you are not, i'm going to be very disappointed in you, i will tell you right now. >> [inaudible] usa! [inaudible] [noise] [inaudible] >> control [inaudible] >> breach circle, [inaudible] the line, we need backup. >> [inaudible] >> [inaudible] doing [inaudible] >> madam speaker. the vice president and the united states senate.

[applause] >> [inaudible] prior warning [inaudible] comply [inaudible] [inaudible] hours [inaudible] declaring riot >> trying to breach into the capitol. >> [inaudible] hold the line, hold the line. [inaudible] >> 42, our way through all this. [inaudible] >> [inaudible] [noise]

[noise] [noise] >> we have a breach of the capitol, breach of the capitol [inaudible] >> be advised, questioning additional resources, eastside has a [inaudible] trying to kick it in. >> without objection, the chair declares that house in recess, pursuant to clause 12 be. andra won. >> mike pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done, to protect our country and our constitution. giving [inaudible]

a chance to certify the correct set of facts. [inaudible] inaccurate one which they were previously asked to certify. the u.s. demands the truth. [inaudible] >> hang mike pence. >> hang mike pence, hang mike pence! >> hang mike pence! [inaudible] >> can't restrain [inaudible] [noise] [inaudible] [inaudible]

[noise] [inaudible] [noise] >> we can tell this, we are going to continue [inaudible] [noise] >> we need -- i need a full. the house members, they are all walking over now, to the tunnels. we are trying to hold the [inaudible] we are trying to [inaudible] now. we need the hold the doors of

the capital capitol. i need [inaudible] [inaudible] we've lost the line? we've lost the line! [inaudible] oh [inaudible] [inaudible]

>> please be advised that capitol police -- please be advised. [noise] [noise] two away with four members, barricade, the people in the hallway outside, in a way out. >> officers on the house floor, and on the third floor. [inaudible] evacuate to each secure the members on the other side. copy. petito [noise] >> talk to his people right, now the american people.

>> one more time? >> whatever it takes, i will lay my life down if it takes a. >> that's why we showed up today. [noise] [inaudible] hey! >> we're coming in we're not playing around. puck you. [noise] [inaudible] >> you back up! [noise] >> officer down! get him up! get him up! [noise] usa! usa! usa! [noise] [noise] [inaudible]

[noise] [noise] [noise] [noise] they were peaceful people. these were great people. the crowd was unbelievable. and i mentioned the lab, the

love in the air. i've never seen that in my life. >> so the order of the committee, up tonight, the chair declares the committee in recess for a period of approximately ten minutes. dog so we believe this will be about a ten minute recess, the committee has been incessant here for just almost exactly one hour. not quite sure how to sum up what we have seen. in this hour. it has been incredibly intense. nicole? >> it's kind of new evidence, there is so much to say about liz cheney because this is about the evidence that this committee has -- they have been investigating this. it's perhaps aside, jared

kushner will never be the same. and that's gonna, one national nightmare comes close to ending. and considering the laundering of his legacy, right now. i think that what we learned is that this committee now knows that trump believes his supporters was doing exactly what he wanted them to do. they have the guts on that. i think we know that there was, it's not clear to me who the functioning commander-in-chief was. -- testified that mike pence was a commander in chief. we are not sure the 20 for the month it was. invoked training command took place, during these events, it seems like they had taken place. there is not congressional testimony, in effect, and we also know the trump knew he lost. told him in his top advisers and david folks, and on new election night, you are not looking for the david axelrod, the -- you are looking for the data. people did people told trump he lost. >> yeah. >> and also that everyone talked to the committee. everybody! >> on camera! >> they have everyone.

they have the nervous staffer energy campaign lawyer who had to tell mark meadows they had nothing there. they have no bar. they have jarred. they have ivanka. everyone! to >> your point occult, that was first of all, that surpassed my expectations. i have to say just as an argument, as a story, as a piece of television program, television for living, that surpassed mac speculations. but the amount of new evidence, we have been working on the story for 17 months, and there is store, every day there is new reporting, every day this new footage, every day there's no new doj filing. the amount of new information, i learned, as someone who thinks about the story 14 hours a day, for some people, in the last hour, is i'm still getting my head around. >> it's the statement the opening statement. it's also clear that as much as the politicians will are speaking and as much as the investigator journalism was revealing some of what they knew, we had no idea with former u.s. attorneys in the usa's who worked for thompson

and cheney had investigated. >> john eastman did not actually believe the case that he was making in writing to the president. donald trump, what's it jumped out for me, donald trump meeting alone with this group michael flynn at all. the night before but i still considered to be the most damning tweet in donald trump's history on twitter, which is, the december 19th tweet. come to the capitol, it's going to be wild. steve bannon, following that up, people it's gonna go wild. he met with this group alone and then the next day he sets >> or within an hour. >> he sets off this violent conspiracy to send people to the capitol to commit violence. >> flynn, giuliani, and powell, are at the white house meeting with the president, this is as liz cheney laid it out. they are discussing imposing martial law, seizing the voting machines, potentially running the election, some of that meeting happens without any lawyers present, before the

lawyers rushed in to try to intervene. it was within an hour of that meeting breaking up that trump said come to the capitol, january six, it'll be wild. we did not have the connection between those two events before. >> that to me as part of the large story that was told in that first hour, which is this. i think the popular understanding, and even the understanding of people like hannity frantically texting of what happened that day. things got out of hand. it got out of control. that it got out ahead of people. that was the plan. the whole thing was the plan. what you saw was the plan,! the fact that mike pence could go back in that room because there were people outside blustering cheering for his death, meant that he couldn't certify the election, which was the plan. this was the plan! it wasn't this thing that went sideways, which is still i think, both in i think republican pilots to this day, and to a bit in the popular imagination, is still the idea. i got out of hand. >> it was a rowdy protests! exactly that plan! it's not trump's complicity, if

this was trump's plan. >> yes trump's plan. >> lawrence o'donnell, what is your reaction to that. >> i've been watching these things since watergate, since i was a college freshman watching watergate hearings. this one really takes its place at that level. but with a twist. that was unimaginable. in the watergate hearings. the idea that tristan nixon would appear as a witness against her father saying i didn't believe him. we just saw that! we just saw ivanka trump say, i believed william barr. i accepted what he said. and what he said, to the president, was everything you are publicly saying about the election, is bush it. she also called it complete nonsense. he called it crazy stuff and he called it a disservice to the country and ivanka trump said i believe that.

>> i respect. him >> so when you are thinking about how is this affect the persuadable's? which may be a small percentage of people out there. i think the most effective elements that we saw in this first hour, for the persuadable, william barr, and ivanka trump, and that video of what's really did happen in that attack, on the capitol, the viciousness of, it the violence of it, the planning of it. the relentless of it, and that, that is what donald trump refused to stop! that's with donald trump refused every plea as we heard others say. he didn't, liz cheney, said he didn't make a single phone call. he didn't call marc miller, he didn't call anyone. he didn't call the attorney general, he didn't call anyone! because as chris is saying, it's the plan! as we understood it! [laughs] it's the ban an extension of

the plan. trump will get you this far, that will rally this thing, and this is what trump expected to see. >> the exact line, first of, all for our viewers if you are just turning it now, this is ten minute recess that we are in the middle of. you can see the hearing members so other states, still in the room on the other side of your screen there. but what is referencing is an incredible dramatic moment. liz cheney in the opening statement, said, not only does president trump refuse to tell the mob believed the capitol, he placed no call to any elements of the u.s. government to a truck that the capital be defended. he did not call is the fence secretary on january six. he did not talk to his attorney general. he did not talk to the department of homeland security. he gave no order to deploy the national guard that day. he made no effort to work at the department to coordinate and deploy law enforcement assets. but, mike pence, did each of those things. >> and by the, way the night before january six, the night before when they were people walking through and looking at the layout, with members of congress, which is one of the things that is a legit here, on the night before, the camp of

the saints, guy the person donald trump listen to into took advice, to steve bannon, literally said, all hell is going to break loose. tomorrow. and then he repeated it. so again, the plan was for all help to break loose to prevent mike pence from doing his job. they suspected that he was doing it >> that could've been what's the bannon was watching and hoping would happen. right? >> we don't know if he knew for sure that the plan was in effect at that point. but once the violence is happening. once police officers, as we saw in that video, our unconscious, being dragged down behind lines of other officers, who are hoping they are not dead. saying officer, down and responsible police officers. once this is happening for hours, trump does nothing to defend the capitol. and mike pence does! those calls could have been. nate >> and just close the loop on, this one of the other things we, learned which happened just in the fused few minutes of liz cheney, two details that we didn't know. the people who were on the capitol, the president, said

donald trump, said we're doing what they should be doing. and we had seen reporting that he had set to meadows, that meadows had relayed something along the lines of, maybe we should hang mike pence. maybe they have the right idea. but the senate, mike pence deserves. it's legible to be clear. because >> maybe the quotas, maybe our supporters have the right idea. >> maybe -- >> the dots that are way out and now abutting each other. is that the president of the united states knew that, when he went up there, mike pence wasn't going to do what he was going to do. and if you can get rid of mike pence, you might get a shot at someone else, potentially to doing it. the question of well, how would you get rid of mike pence? is an open question. but we know that marc short had the secret service detail into his office the day before saying that this is a security situation. >> as his counsel. yeah >> -- and the president doesn't pick up the phone. like, it looks like the president was facilitating, or

at least completely neutral towards whether the crowd killed his vice president. >> she says although some former trump officials argue that they did not anticipate violence on the sixth, the evidence suggests otherwise. i mean i think that there has been a real, i think caution on all of our parts, and not to, we didn't know whether trump was tied to the violence. she just laid it out in their open statement that he was the cause of the violence, absolutely try to. it >> thompson convening the committee again after this time in a recession. >> the committee will be in order. i want to thank our witnesses for being with us this evening. to share their first hand accounts of that terrible day. i know that some of the witnesses from our first hearing our in the room with us, along with some of the family

members, great aunt and widows of our officers who lost their lives as a result of the attack. thank you all for being here, for us, and the american people. officer caroline edwards has been with the united states capitol police since 2017. on january 6th, officer edwards was assigned to the first responder units which serves as the first line of defense at the capitol complex. she also served as a member of the civil disturbance unit. a special subset of the uniformed division trained to respond to mass demonstration events. officer edwards is a graduate of the university of georgia, and currently is working on a masters degree in intelligence analysis from john hopkins university.

nick quiz that is on acclaimed filmmaker who credits include documenting stories from war zones and afghanistan, syria, and iraq. on january 6th, mr. quicksand was working on a documentary about quote, why americans are so divided when americans have so much in common. and quote. during that day mr. quest it interviewed and documented movements of the people around the capitol including the first moment of the violence against the capitol police. and the chaos that it ensued. i will now swear in our witnesses, the witnesses will please stand. and raise your right hand. do you swear and affirm under the penalty of perjury, that the testimony you are about to

give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god. let the record reflect the witnesses answer in their affirmative. without objection, the witnesses statement will be included in their record pursuant to section five c. eight of house resolution 503, i recognize myself for questioning. as you saw just a few minutes ago, the proud boys instigated the first breach of the capital, just before 1:00 pm, where rioters pushed over their barricades near the peace circle, at the foot of the capital. hour two witnesses tonight were both there at the time of that

first breach. officer edwards was standing with other officers behind a line of bike racks, that marked the perimeter of the capitol grounds. she bravely tried to prevent an angry crowd from advancing on the capitol. unfortunately she was overran and not unconscious. as the crowd advanced. on the capitol. mr. quick stand was a few yards away from officer edwards taking footage of the proud boys as part of his work on the documentary film. most of his footage has never been shown publicly before we shared it this evening. officer edwards, and would like to start by asking, if you could tell us why you believe it's important for you to share your story this evening with the committee and the american

public. [inaudible] >> please, your microphone. [laughs] >> well thank you mister chairman, i really appreciate it, and thank you to the committee for having me here to testify. i was called a lot of things on january six, 2021, and the days thereafter. i was called nancy pelosi's dog, called incompetent, called a hero, and a villain. i was called a traded to my country, my oath, and my constitution. and actuality, i was none of those things. i was an american, standing face to face with other americans asking myself how many times many many times, how we have gotten here? i had been called names before, but never had my patriotism or duty been called into question.

i, who got up every day, no matter how early the hour, or how late i got in the night before, to put on my uniform and to protect americas symbol of democracy. i, who spent countless hours in the baking sun and freezing snow to make sure that america's elected officials were able to do their job. i, whose literal blood sweat and tears were shed that day, defending the building that i spent countless holidays and weekends working in. i am the proud granddaughter of a marine, that fought in the battle of the chosen reservoir in the korean war. i think of my papa often in these days, how he was so young and thrown into a battle he never saw coming. and answered the call at a great personal cost. how we lived the rest of his days with bullets and shrapnel in his legs. but never once complained about his sacrifice.

i would like to think that he would be proud of me. part of his granddaughter, that stood her ground that day and continue fighting even though she was wounded. like heated, many years ago. i am my grandfather's granddaughter, proud to put on the uniform, and serve my country. they dare to question my honor. they dared to question my loyalty. and they dared to question my duty. i am a proud american, and i will gladly sacrifice everything to make sure that the america, my grandfather defended, is year for many years to come. thank you. >> officer edwards, your story and your service is important. and i thank you for being here tonight. mr. quested, i would like to ask you to introduce yourself. can you tell us how you found yourself in washington d.c., on

january six, 2021. >> good evening, chair, man my the best chair. thank you for the introduction. as they did in the winter 2020, i was working on a documentary. as part of that documentary, a film several rallies in washington d.c., on december 11th, december the 12. and i learn that there would be a rally on the -- on january 6th. so my three colleagues and i came down to document the rally. according to the permits of the event, it was going to be a rally ellipse. we arrived at the mall and observed a large contingent of proud boys was marching towards the capital. before i'm them and almost immediately i was separated from my colleagues. i documented the crowd term from protesters, to rioters, to insurrectionists. i was surprised at the size of the group, the anger and the profanity. and, for anyone who didn't understand how violent that

event was i saw it, i documented it. and i experienced it. i heard incredibly aggressive chanting, and i shared subsequently share the efforts with the authorities. i am here today pursuing to a house subpoena. thank you so much. e >> thank you, mister quested, the select committee has conducted extensive investigative work, to understand what led the proud boys and other rioters to the capitol on january 6th. we have obtained substantial evidence showing that the presidents december 19th tweet, calling his followers to washington d.c. on january 6th energized individuals from the proud boys and other extremist groups. i would like to play a brief video highlighting some of this evidence.

>> my name is marcus childress, an investigative counsel for the -- on the united states capitol. >> were you going? give me a name. >> proud boys -- >> proud boys, stand up back and stand by -- >> after he made his comment, enrique and tarrio tarrio, said -- >> we learned that this comment on the presidential debate actually led to an increased membership of the proud boys. >> would you say that proud boys numb members increased after that stand back, stand by after that comment? >> i would say exponentially. tripled, probably. >> with the potential for a lot, more eventually. >> did you ever selanee stand back and stand by merchandise? >> one of the vendors on my [inaudible] actually beat me to it. but i wish i would have made a stand back, stand by shirt. >> -- president trump tweeted about the january 6th rally and told attendees, be there, it will be

wild. we need witnesses that we interviewed [inaudible] inspired by the presidents call and came to january d.c. for january 6th. but the president took it a step further. they view this tweet as a call to arms. a day later, the department of justice describes how the department -- in the chat, the proud boys established a command structure. in anticipation of coming back to d.c. on january 6th. the department of justice describes mr. tarrio coming into possession of a document called the 1776 returns, describing occupying a few key buildings. -- >> you better get your ass to d.c. folks, this saturday. >> if you don't there is going to be no more republic, it's not an if. it's either president trump is encouraged or [inaudible] bolstered and strengthened [inaudible] we all must >> the oath keepers

planning to block the peaceful transfer of power. according to the department of justice, stewart rhodes, the oath keepers leader, said to his followers, that we were not going to get through this without a simple -- >> and responsive the december 19th 2020 tweet by president trump, the oath keepers focused on january 6th and washington d.c.. and response to the tweet, one member, the president of the florida chapter, but on social media, the president called us to the capitol and he wants us to make it wild. the -- to keep the president in power, although president trump had just lost the election. the committee learned that the oath keepers set up quick reaction forces outside of the city and -- where they stored arms. the goal of these quick reaction forces was to be on standby, just in case president trump invoked the insurrection act. >> did the oath keepers provide weapons to members? >> [inaudible] grounds for [inaudible] due process grounds. >> in footage obtained by the committee, we learned on the

night of january 5th, enrique tarrio and stewart rhodes met in the parking garage in washington d.c.. >> there is mutual respect their. >> i think we are fighting the same fight, i think. >> the committee learned that the oath keepers went into the capital, through the east doors, into stack formations. the doj said one of the stacks -- capital waiting for speaker pelosi, they never found her. as the attack was unfolding, mr. tarrio to credit, and documented [inaudible] to the department of justice, mr. tarrio said encrypted chat, make no mistake. and we did this. later on that evening, mr. tarrio posted a video which seemed to resemble him in front of the capital capitol [inaudible] black cape. and the title of the video was premonition. the [inaudible] select committee and the department of justice highlights how each [inaudible] on the january 6th. in fact, the investigation

revealed that it was individuals associated with the proud boys who instigated the initial breach of the peace circle at 12:53 pm. >> within ten minutes rioters had already -- less positive. by 2:00, rioters had reached the doors on the west and the east plazas. and by 2:13, rioters had actually broken through the door and got into -- a series of breaches followed. at 2:25 pm, rioters breached the east side doors to the rotunda. >> a little after 2:40 pm, rioters breached the seaside doors for engagement. once the rioters infiltrated the capital, they moved to the crypt. the rotunda. the hallways leading to the

house chambers. and inside the senate chambers. >> in the vigils associated with two violent extremist groups, have been charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with the january 6th attack. one is the oath keepers. they are a group of armed, anti government extremists. the other group is the proud boys. they promote white supremacist beliefs and have engaged in violence with people they view as their political enemies. members of both groups have already pled guilty to crimes associated with the january 6th attack. mr. quested as part of the documentary you've been filming, you gained access to the proud boys and their leader, and reach a tarrio, and your crew

found them in washington d.c. on the evening of january 5th and then on january 6th. on january 5th, the night before the attack, you were with the head of the proud boys, mr. tarrio in washington d.c.. what happened? >> we picked up mr. tarrio from jail. he had been arrested for carrying some magazines, some extra capacity magazines. and he took responsibility for the burning of the black lives matter flag that was stolen from the church on december the 12th. we were attempting to get an interview with mr. tarrio. we had no idea of any of the events that we're going to subsequently happen. we drove him to pick up his

bags from the property department of the police, which is just south of the mall. we picked up his bags and went to get some other bags from the phoenix hotel. we encountered mr. stewart rhodes, from the oath keepers. by the time i had gone to park the car, i who had got into the car with mr. tarrio, that they had moved to a location around the corner. they had parking -- garage of the hall of legends, i believe. so, we quickly drove over there. we drove down into the parking garage and filmed the scene of mr. tarrio and mr. roads and seven other individuals in that garage. we then continue to follow mr. tarrio and there was some

discussion about where he was going to go and he ended up going towards a hotel in baltimore. and we conducted an interview with him in the hotel room. and then we returned to d.c. for that night. and what was interesting for that night was that that was the first indication that d.c. was much more busy than it had been any other time we had been there. because we couldn't get into the hotels we wanted to. and we ended up at a hotel that was not as satisfactory as we would hope. >> thank you. so, what you are saying is, you filmed the meeting between mr. tarrio and oath keepers leader stewart rhodes, right? >> indeed. >> you couldn't hear what was said, but according to the justice department indictment of booster tarrio, a

participant referenced the capitol. on the morning of january 6th you learned the proud boys were gathered near the rally schedule to take place near the white house. what time did you meet up with the proud boys and what was happening when they met? >> we met up with the proud boys somewhere around 10:30 am. they were starting to walk down the mall, easterly direction, towards the capitol. there was a large contingent, more than i had expected. and i was confused, to a certain extent, why we were walking away from the presidents speech because that's what i felt we were there to cover. >>,. . ? >>,. >>, so how many proud boys

would you estimate were marching to the capital? >> a couple of hundred, potentially. >> a couple of hundred proud boys were marking marching toward the capitol. >> at the time, was the area heavily guarded. >> i remember we walked past we walked down the mall. we walked to the right of the reflecting pool. and then north along the road that leads to the peace -- and as we were walking along the piece -- i framed the proud boys to the right of my shot with the capitol behind and i saw one sole police officer at the barriers, which were subsequently breached. we then walked up and passed a tactical unit preparing. and you see that in the film, where the man questions the duty and honor, as you see, maybe, a dozen capitol police

putting on their riot gear. >> so, how would you describe the atmosphere at that time? >> the atmosphere was, it seemed to be much darker. i made efforts to create familiarity between myself and my subjects, to make them feel comfortable. and the atmosphere was much darker at this date than it had been in these other days. and there was also a contingent of proud boys that i hadn't met before, from arizona, who appeared to wear these orange hats. and had orange armbands. >> so, when the proud boys went back down the hill to the peace circle, in a larger crowd start to gather? >> well, no, first of all, we went down to the back and down the steps. we took some photographs on the

east side of the capitol. and then we went to lun>> so, ma journalist. so, you are careful to stick to things that you have observed. but what you have told us is highly relevant. let me highlight a few key facts that you and others have provided the committee. first, there was a large group of proud boys present at the capital capitol. we know that from multiple sources. you now estimate that they were around 250 to 300 individuals that -- testified. they weren't there for president trump's speech. we know this because they left that area to march toward the capitol before the speech began. they walked around the capitol that morning. i'm concerned this allowed them to see what defenses were in

place and where weaknesses might be. and they decided to launch their attack at the peace circle, which is a front door of the capital capitol complex. it's the first security perimeter that those marching from the ellipse would have to come to as they moved toward the capitol. the piece circle walk away -- walkway was always where the thousands of angry trump supporters would arrive after president trump sent them from the ellipse. the proud boys timed their attack to the moments before the start of the joint session, in the capitol, which is also where president trump directed the angry mob, quote, we fight like hell, and quote. he told them, before sending them down pennsylvania avenue,

right to where the proud boys gathered, and where you are filming. a central question is, whether the attack on the capital capitol was coordinated and planned. what you witnessed was what's a coordinated and planned effort would look like. it was the culmination of a months-long effort spearheaded by president trump. mr. quested, thank you for your eyewitness account of the lead up to the breach of the piece a circle. this brings us to a point in time where you and officer edwards were in close proximity. >> at this point, i reserve the balance of my time for suit to -- have resolution 503. the chair recognizes the chairwoman from wyoming, as cheney, for questioning. >> thank you very, much

chairman. i want to start by thanking you for your service. and thank you for being here this evening. -- i know that it's not easy to relive what happened for you and the officers behind you, and for the family members of officers in the audience this evening. but it's really important for the country to have a full accounting and understanding of what happened. i want to start, officer edwards, with a short clip that shows the horrible moment when you were injured as the peace circle was breach. >> usa, usa, usa! >> usa, usa! [noise] [inaudible] [noise] >> officer edwards, can

you describe the crowd that had assembled as the piece circle, as you and your fellow officers stood behind and guarded the bike racks at the peace circle? >> yeah. so they were about, i want to say, about five of us on that line and there were -- there was our bike rack. and then at the bottom of the pennsylvania avenue walkway, right by pieces oracle, there was another bike rack. and so the crowd had kind of gathered there. it was the crowd led by joseph biggs. and they were mostly in civilian clothes. there were some who had military fatigues on. we could see people with bulletproof vests on, things like that. they didn't seem extremely

cohesive but they had gathered there in their outfits. but they had gathered there together and joseph biggs started -- he had a megaphone. and he started talking about -- first date was being's kind of relating to congress. and then he -- table started turning. once the -- what is now the arizona group, that's what he said. the crowd with orange hats, they came up chanting, if you see k, and he fell. and they join that group, and once they join that group, joseph biggs better wrecked turned to the capitol police. he started asking us questions

like, you didn't miss a paycheck during the pandemic? mentioning stuff about our pay scale was mentioned. and, started turning the tables on us. and i've worked, i can conservatively say probably hundreds of civil disturbance events. i know when i am being turned into a villain. and that is when i turned to my sergeant, and i stated the understatement of the century. i said, start i think we're gonna need a few more people down here. and so after that, i think they started confirming this went a little bit silent, they started conferring among each other. i saw the person now identified

as ryan samsel, he put his arm around joseph bags, and they were talking, and then they started approaching the first barricade. they ripped the first barricade down, and they approached our bike racks. good at that time, we started holding on grabbing the bike rap box, and they weren't very many of us, so i grabbed the middle between two different bike racks, and i wasn't any under pretense that i could hold it for very long. but i just wanted to make sure that we could get more people down, and get our cdu units to answer the call. so we started grappling over the bike racks. i felt the bike rack come on

top of my head. and i was pushed backwards c, my foot caught the stare behind me, and i, my chin hit the handrail, and then at that point i had blocked out. but my, the back of my head clipped the concrete stairs behind me. >> and you were knocked unconscious, is that right officer edwards? >> yes ma'am. >> but then when you regained consciousness, even with the injuries, you return to duty. is that right? >> yes ma'am. at that time, a gentle and kicked in. i ran towards the west front, and i try to hold the line at the senate steps. at the lower west terrace. more people kept coming at us. it just seemed like, more and more people started coming on

to the west front. they started over powering us. and that was right about when and peds officers showed up. their bike officers pushed the crowd back. and allowed our city you units, as well as their, to for that line that you see on very thin line, between us and the protesters, or the rioters. at that time. i fell behind that line. for a while, i started decontaminating people who had gotten sprayed. and treating people medically who needed it. >> and then you were injured again, they're on the west terrace, is that right officer edwards? >> yes ma'am, so after a while

i got back on the line. he i got, it was on the house side of the lower west terrace. and i was holding that line for a while. there weren't many of us over there. and officers sicknick was behind me for most of the time for about 30 to 45 minutes, that i was down there. we were just, as the best we could, we were just grappling over bike racks, and trying to hold them as quick as possible. all of a sudden, icy movement to the left of me. i turned, and it was officer sicknick with his hands in his hands. he was ghostly pale.

which i figured at that point that he had been sprayed, and i was concerned, my cop alarm bells went off. because, if you get sprayed with pepper spray, you are gonna turn red. he turned just about as pale as the sheet of paper. and so, i looked back to see what's had hit him. what's happened. and that's when i got sprayed in the eyes as well. i was taken to be decontaminated by another officer, but we didn't get the chance because we were then tear gassed. >> and we are gonna play just a brief clip of that moment that you have just described, officer edwards.

[noise] [noise] >> officer, edwards i just want to thank you for being here, and i now again, how difficult it is. i know the family of officer sicknick as well who is here tonight. and one of the things, one of the capitol police officer said to me recently was, to ask me whether or not as members of congress, all of us understood that, on that day of january six, when we were evacuated, from the chamber, were led to a safe undisclosed location. whether we knew that so many of you had rushed out of the building and into the fight. i can assure you that we do know that. and that we understand how important your services, thank

you for your continued work with our committee and the interviews, and thank you very much for both of you for being here this evening. mister chairman, i yield back. >> thank you very much. miss edwards, can you give us one memory of that awful day that stands out, most vividly in your mind? >> i can. that time when i talked about falling behind and p.t.'s line. i remember because i had been kind of shielded away, because i was holding those stairs so i wasn't able to really see what was going on over here.

when i fell behind that line, pay and i saw, i can just remember my breath catching in my throat hey, because, when i saw was just a war scene. it was something like i had seen out of the movies. i couldn't believe my eyes. there were officers on the ground, hey they were bleeding, they were throwing up, they were, they had i mean i saw friends with blood all over their faces. i was slipping in peoples blood. i was catching people, as they fell, i was -- it was carnage, it was chaos

pay. i can't even describe what i saw. never in my wildest dreams did i think that, as a police officer, as a law enforcement officer, i would find myself in the middle of a battle. i'm trained to detain a couple of subjects and handle a crowd, but i'm not combat trained. and that day, it was just hours of hand to hand combat. hours of dealing with things that were way beyond any law enforcement officer has ever trained for. and i just remember, i just remember that moment of stopping behind the line, and just seeing the absolute war zone that the west front had

become. hey that the west front had become he >> let me thank you for your service. and actually, your bravery that you have told the world about tonight. it is unfortunate that you had to defend the capitol from fellow americans. none of us would ever think that that would have to happen. but it did. so, let me thank our witnesses for joining us tonight and sharing their experiences with america. throughout my chairmanship of this committee, i have continuously vowed that this committee will ensure a comprehensive account of the heroic acts on january 6th. and that we will follow the facts wherever they lead. your testimony is an essential part of that record and helps

us do our job. stir quested, thank you for sharing your footage and your account of the days with us. the images you recorded and have shared with the committee do a better job than any of our words in reinforcing the violence of january 6th. we hope that the power of your footage helps encourage all americans to consider how citizens with so much in common could viciously brawl at the seat of their democratic government. officer edwards, thank you for your brave service, as i indicated, on january 6th. and all you did to protect us. and most importantly, our democracy. if you and your fellow officers hadn't held the line against those violent insurrectionists, we can only imagine the

disaster that would have ensued. your heroism is the face of danger is admirable. and your will to continue to protect and serve despite your serious injury should be an inspiration to all of us. we wish you a continued recovery and look forward to seeing you back in uniform sometime soon. the members of the select committee may have additional questions for tonight's witnesses. and we ask that you respond expeditiously in writing to those questions. without objections, members will be permitted ten business days to submit statements for the record, including opening remarks and additional questions for the witnesses. the witnesses have just told us what they heard the rioters saying while they stormed the capitol on that day. now we are going to hear from

the rioters themselves. without objection, i include in the record, a video presentation. >> we were invited by the president of the united states! >> we're really made me want to come with the fact that i had supported trump all that time. i did believe that the election was being stolen. and trump asked us to come. >> he personally asked us to come to d.c. that day. and i thought, for everything he does for us, everything he has asked of me, i will do it. we >> are going to walk down to the capitol! >> [inaudible] we call president trump mentioning the capitol during his speech? >> oh, yes. he said he was going to go. that he was going to be there. >> i know why always there and that's because they called me there. and he laid out what is

happening in our government. he laid it out. >> i remember donald trump telling people to be there. >> you mentioned that the president asked you, do you remember a specific message? >> basically, yes, for us to come to d.c., that big things are going to happen. >> what got me interested, he said, i've got something very important to say on january 6th, something like that. [inaudible] what got me interested to be there. >> trump has only [inaudible] for two things. he asked me for my vote and he asked me to come on january 6th. >> when the committee reconvenes next week, we are going to examine the lies that convinced those men and others that stormed the capitol to try to stop the transfer of power. we are going to take a close look at the first part of trump's attack on the rule of

law. when he hit the fuse that ultimately resulted in the violence of january 6th. without objection, and with that, the committee stands adjourned. >> and that is a wrap for the first public facing hearing of the january 6th investigation since they were initially convened last year. very dramatic testimony following this ten minute recess. they took about an hour ago. dramatic testimony from officer caroline edwards, who is the capitol police officer who we knew was injured in the attack. we saw the video of her being injured in the attack. in the middle of her presentation. it was almost impossible to watch, to speak personally. also interesting -- interesting testimony from a documentary filmmaker who was embedded with the proud boys, who talked about how he tried to, as a matter of his

technique, as a filmmaker, tried to make his subjects comfortable with him. and so you see the two witnesses they, are embracing one another. but he talked about being, i think it's fair to say, sort of unnerved about the transformation in the atmosphere. and the environment -- or at least the mood in which the proud boys group was moving toward the capital. they ignored the presidents speech, at the lips, [inaudible] >> you see officer -- embracing officer michael even, another officer injured that day. >> -- >> there was a lot established. i think one of the key parts established in that second part, which was something that first became apparent when we started to get footage. the new york times put together a masterful video. was that, again, this was not spontaneous. it was not a crowd. sometimes, you will see images of a food right breaks out,

right? people are waiting desperately for food or water in some stricken disaster area. and people just reach their limit. and i think there was a little bit of people's understanding of what -- that is what happened on january 6th. something came of that. it was that footage from your times that showed that there was a vanguard to every key action that happened that day. every key transition transgression across a line. every key first assault on police, first entry to the capitol, and that vanguard wasn't organized, proto-fascist militia that had congregated and assembled, called by the president of the united states, for the explicit purpose of stopping the peaceful transfer of power. and when they went to the capitol while the president was speaking, they were the first to that line, we will see later, they were the first ones in through the west side of the capitol. they cased the joint. this vanguard, members of whom are now under indictment for seditious conspiracy, were

pursuing a plan that led the point of the speaker. the crowd followed behind them. and that key fact, which we have known to some extent, it's available on doj filings. but the footage [inaudible] the from the filmmaker, who is there, literally as the vanguard, as the first people on the scene. and the testimony from officer edwards as the frontline protector, establishes the degree to which this was for thought, planned out and executed in the key moments of aggression and transgression by this group of people. >> yeah, and just the key point, yes there was a pro trump rally, at which the president spoke. and we can absolutely talk about all the things the president said there. but the idea that that rally is the thing that got out of hand. and that somehow resulted in the breaching at the capitol. that rally was very far from capitol the. and the people who, as you say, did the initial reach that allowed everybody else to come

in. they never even went to that rally. they took that opportunity of that rally happening to get themselves down a totally undefended mall and get -- those barricades, so that the mall would follow them. >> this is the alleyoop aspect. throw the ball up and the other player bounces it. they went to the capital capitol first. the president hadn't said that before. they cased the capitol. >> let's hear from chairman thompson there speaking with reporters >> -- invited the people here. violent organizations who participated. and actually started the capital, while the speech was going on, at the ellipse at the same time. it's clear that it's more clear to what was occurring then was just coming to a stop the steal rally. and some of what we presented tonight defines that as well as documented. it >> do you expect the white

house officials, or gaseous officials to testify in public here in the next public hearings. rosen, -- do you expect them to >> it's that they will. we are a nation of laws. our committee follows a law. wean bite everyone information that they think it's important to our committee. we gladly will accept them. any information presented tonight, if there is someone who would come an oath to our committee. with a different opinion, we welcome it. >> but they haven't a, great those individuals are great. >> not at this point, not at this point. >> testifying next -- >> we'll, we have a hearing monday. which we'll talk about some of it. actions that went on, people to try to stop the election. >> sorry, sir --

>> you know the network. >> chairman bennie johns -- speaking with reporters about seem to be a sort of impromptu post hearing remarks. but he apparently did that just to underscore exactly the point that -- was just making. about the discontinuity, the discontinuity in the timeline, that disproves, conclusively, the idea that this was a rally that got out of hand. >> and is to make a final point, here which is if the plan is, if the oath keepers and the proud boys wanted stormed the capitol. they can't do it just themselves. there's a few hundred of, them it would be hard. they clearly are thinking about that, they are heading there while the president is speaking. but they need a key thing. >> they need a mop? they need him all behind them! which doesn't work. and the guy in the ellipse, who everyone is listening to, tells them, now we are all going to go down to the capitol. >> and i'll go with you. >> but, at that time, this is a very important, point kind of a

slow back and forth between documents and filmmaker and benny thompson, they draws out of, him now what time was it? that un the proud boys were walking down the mall, the unguarded mall? that's very early in the day wasn't it! yes! filmmakers is not surprised by. this because i thought we were there to film their presence at the trump rally. but you are exactly right. by the time trump told people to go to the capitol, the proud boys had already gone and started the process of breaking into the seat of government. and then he flung the mob at them, to follow them into the breach, presumably to overthrow the government. >> but all of that second piece, is the other half of what's liz cheney established at the beginning. that the commander-in-chief, the united states military, the chief executive of the department of justice, the person who showed up and would've called the national guard, was a wa. but the person who unleashed the mob compliment the context of the two militia groups charged with seditious conspiracy, was donald j trump. >> and he was on the spot. and right on time. >> well he's always.

>> with officer edward's testimony, which was so powerful and so many ways, legally, there is a position to what's is crucially important in the case against donald trump. and that is when she is taking us through her experience, and she makes it very simple reference to, our worst of hands hands combat. that she was engaged in hours of hand to hand combat. what we have heard in the previous hour, is during every minute up those hours of hand to hand combat, donald trump was doing nothing. and it was donald trump's drop to stop the hand to hand combat. and that, so what's she suffered, she never said trump, she never personally did a linkage, but that's the way evidence were flows due to the linkage for you, without any particular witness saying it. but that was hours of hand-to-hand combat, inflicted on her, by donald trump's silence. >> because his supporters were

quote, doing what they should be doing. he >> he was enjoying it, he wasn't doing nothing, he was encouraging it. she describes being on the ground and looking up, and describing what she described as a war zone. getting up and slipping in peoples blood. she said, it looked like a movie. this is one of the reasons that i had long objected to calling would happen on january 6th riot. because the lack of -- a rights implies some spontaneity. some passion in the moment that causes people to go wild. this was a preplanned going wild. because donald trump literally set, we are are going to go wild. and he said the day when we were gonna go wild. one of his chief advisor said, the day before, it's gonna be wild. this was planned. this reads more. looking at the footage of, it watching the body more on camera. all the camera from the capitol. this was a war. being made upon the united states by the president of the united states. it was planted like a war, it

had stacks of people entering the capitol. you don't answer the capitol and stacks during the riots. right? this was a very coordinated, deliberately tack on the capitol for a very specific purpose. to prevent the people inside the capitol from completing the ceremonial certification of the vote. and i think the timeline is very important. donald trump starts picking at noon. nick west it talks about something like ten in the morning. 10:30 in the morning, donald trump started speaking at noon. the disconnection between the ellipse and what happened there, and would have been at the capitol, is that the plan to your point, with that you needed to rouse the crowd, get donald trump to get them excited, get the passion going. >> and to tell the more the. go >> and tell them where to go. but he had stacks of people. i just one more thing, let's not forget who and rico tarrio is. during the video, you saw all of the labeling of who are proud boys. and you only saw proud boys. you didn't see oath keepers.

>> one quick steward roads. >> yeah, it was wet right. it was mostly proud boys. the proud boys was a spy stand back stand by guys. and waco and tarrio used to be the -- oven ricky tarrio, he was the guy who led a screaming proto-violence on speaker pelosi. when she came down to miami. >> that's right at that miami pelosi. >> i forgot about. >> that he was in the white house, getting to sort of meeting with trump. but he was there as let's enough for trump director, and last thing. his organization, the proud boys. now literally controls the miami-dade republic party. they are in control of a political party in a key state, a key swing state in this country. they are not just a group of insurrectionists, thugs. they are a political organization, directly tied to and loyal to donald trump. >> always happen. >> and let us reflect on the effectiveness of officer edward's testimony. it was interesting, i didn't

know whether those two types of testimonies would be similar, whether they would be similar types of witnesses. they are obviously different types of witnesses, where from the beginning, the phone maker says i'm under here on a subpoena. it's clear he doesn't want to be. there he doesn't even put on the tie. when officer edwards was sort of speaking freely, and not just directly answering questions. at that, point you are signaling out, to me was just, i mean, very hard to sit through. when she said, i'm a police officer. i am trained to detain suspects. i am trained because i was a capitol police officer, i've dealt with some of the disturbances, i'm turned with crowds. i am not combat trained. and this was always, as you said, hours of hand to hand combat. when she describes, having to be knocked unconscious, coming back to consciousness, and then going back to the line. what was she doing when she got to the line? effectively being an ad hoc manic. she is dousing the eyes.

trying to detoxify people who have been her colleagues, who have been bear sprayed, and pepper spray. she is trying to help people >> clean officer sicknick. who she fears has been bravely ruined, it. her human, her incredibly capable human story, as a no nonsense police officer who is nevertheless put into a war. it was to me, okay, close the door. it's over. >> it's also the evidence that they were able to amass to show her testimony, next to the attack on her from the rioters. >> which is exactly as you. describe >> exactly. >> so you talk about, there is has been too much to think about, what will the impact be? we don't know. but in the moment, when she testified to exist on film. and that was presented side by side. >> and i want to give one minute to the heroism that we saw her display, and so many of these officers display.

it's the capitol police. the fact that this is coming to us tonight, after a couple of weeks now, of analysis of 19 armed police officers, standing in a school, with children and teachers bleeding to death in the other room and doing nothing. american now can realize that's heroism is not standard. a police work. heroism is unusual in police work. and so, for the capitol police, who we, when i worked there, and right up to pre-insurrection. we always thought the capitol police as just these wonderful people. very sophisticated or man at the entrances of these buildings, and really nice people. we know their names, because we use the same answers all time. we never thought of them as the people who would be out there fighting this kind of war, and, this is something that is extremely where in police work, getting up off the ground, after being knocked out, and

bleeding, and going back into, wait to hand to hand combat for hours. cops do not, do not do that! it is an extraordinary act for her to do that! everything that the capitol police did that day, was extraordinary. every minute! and she is giving that in a room of people who know this. who live by and with, and work with the capitol police every day. >> i will tell you that as we've been talking here, one of the things we've been able to see as members of the committee going up and speaking to the police officers who testified and others who were there in support. speaking with them after the closing of the hearing. one of the members we saw doing that joins us now, congressman adam shift is a member of the january six investigation. of course is a chair of a house intelligence committee. and he standing by to talk to us from the capitol. mister chairman, thank you for being here tonight i know this is a busy and big night. >> well it's good to be with you. i thought it was a very powerful night. i think the chairman laid out

the historical nature of what we went through that day. the unprecedented attempt to interfere with the transfer of power. and then i think that this chair importantly wove together the narrative about these multifaceted efforts to overturn the election. the pressure on state legislators. and legislators, the pressure on the vice president, they continued pushing up these false claims of fraud, even when the presidents own attorney general said that they were bs. how it led to that day. and to hear officer edwards testimony. i can't imagine a more powerful reputation of the lie that this was a normal tourist day. that this was a legitimate political discourse. and so, we did, i hope, show the country just a bit of the a mountain of evidence that we

have. and and gave the country a sense of what lies ahead in our future hearings. congressman schiff, >> there's a historical importance to this which defies both politics and party affiliation. this is also happening in a partisan and political environment. we after all i do doing these hearings as part of a congressional investigation. that said, there was a provocative piece of evidence described tonight, by liz, cheney about unnamed republican members of congress. she said during her opening statement, republican congressman scott perry, was involved in trying to get jeffrey clark, appointed as attorney general, which was described as trying to get the justice department to use lies to put the weight of the department behind the effort to steal the election result for president trump. representative perry has refused to testify here, as you will, see you contacted the white house in the weeks after january 6th, to seek a

presidential pardon. multiple other republican congressman also saw president part then for their rosen attempting to overturn the 2020 election. we have seen some things pointing at this in the past, never seen it put that bluntly before. is the implication of this evidence that the committee has collected, that members of congress, republican members of congress, committed what they believe to be crimes? in this plot, and thereby therefore sought pardons from the president before he left office? >> well look, i think the fact that members of congress were interested in trying to get a preemptive pardon for their role in the efforts to overturn their election, tells you a lot about their consciousness of guilt. if they thought what they were doing was above board, and of course no need for a pardon. this is part of the reason we wanted these members to testify. it's probably one of the reasons why they refused to testify. but nonetheless, it gives a

public a sense of just the depth of information we have been able to accumulate. the scores of witnesses you saw some of that deposition testimony tonight. the real challenge for our committee and frankly is, how do we choose what is most important to share with the public? and i think that what we will try to do is make available in these hearings as much as we can, and then provide in online resources for others, a wealth of other materials for you and other members of the press, and public, to scrutinize. >> congressman, is it clear to you and other members of the committee with the exact witness lineup will be for the seven hearings that have been described? we heard vice chair liz cheney, today, describe the rough topics and rough areas of evidence that will be covered in each of the next six hearings, that will happen during the month of june. is it clear to you now?

is that a settled matter who the live witnesses will be? or some of that is still in under negotiation? >> i think many of the witnesses, most of the witnesses are already settled upon, or arrived that. but, there may be changes, among the witnesses, new witnesses, or others, that are replace. so i don't know that it is going to be static. but we are continuing to learn new information. continuing to talk to witnesses. and going back to some of the witnesses we have interviewed now that we have more information. so i don't want to say that it is fixed and place. but we certainly i think have lined up most of the witnesses in the set of hearings. now this may not be the last of the hearings as well. >> congressman schiff, the footage that we saw is incredibly disturbing as it was, sort of begs the question, of how coordinated this effort was, on the inside of the capitol. we saw people roaming

throughout the capital. chanting speaker pelosi's name. seeming to hunt individual members and leadership in that way. there has been implication in the past from some numbers that fellow members of congress assisted in some way in planning or providing logistics. perhaps even directions in terms of where to go inside the capitol, by doing tours. will we get that kind of information and evidence through these hearings? >> i can't go into too many specifics, we have investigated what's role any member or members of congress may have played. in the run up to that day. or on that day. we've investigated the issue of towards potential tours, or tour involving a member or members. i'm not at this point authorized to go into that

evidence. but it is part of the body of work that we have been able to uncover. we will be sharing that over the state, or understated. this is just a part of what would be presented to the public. >> and what will be the potential implication if members, if a member or members, did purchase a pay in providing logistical information? we know this is not a trial. this not a criminal proceeding. it's informational. it's for us to know the history of what happens. but could remember like that, can you imagine a member who was exposed theoretically, in these hearings, continuing to serve in congress unimpeded? >> it's inexplicable to me how members of congress, saying what's look place on january six, and we were of course there, and those police officers saved our lives. it's unspeakable to me that so many of my republican colleagues can go right back under that house floor, knowing how many capitol police

officers have been beaten and injured. and pick up where they left off. trying to overturn the election. so there is a lot that frankly i can't understand. our job will be to expose all of the conduct of that day. well add to it. in terms of remedies, that the justice department may have, that is all timidly a decision for the attorney general. but our role is really one of protecting the public, while looking at took place, who was involved, holding those accountable by exposing their mic misconduct. and proposing reforms to protect us going forward. >> it's lawrence o'donnell, i'm going to assume that most people who work at the justice department, watched this hearing tonight. even those working in civil divisions and environmental areas that have nothing to do with the work you are doing. but there would be people watching it who do have overlaps with the work you are doing. do you believe that those

people working at the justice department tonight, learned things in your hearing that they did not know? >> i'm certain that they learn things that they did not know because it's some of the material that we presented and much of the material that we have accumulated, it's part of our investigation. it's not part of the justice department investigation. and i'm sure they are watching it carefully. and they should watch it carefully. i would hope that they are doing their own investigation and they are being as aggressive and diligent about it as we are. ultimately, we have very limited authority in terms of what the justice department. us we have the most authority once as you know, when someone is in contempt of congress. if they made for referrals, and the partners only been willing to go forward with two of them. i hope that with respect to the events that we are gonna be sharing information with the public about, for the next few weeks, that the justice department, if they have it uncovered this and biden's themselves. it's paying very close

attention. and that they will follow the evidence wherever it leads, as the attorney general has said that he will. after, all federal judge as we begin quoted this evening, and california, has already found on the basis of the limited evidence that he has seen, that the former president and others around him likely violated multiple federal laws. >> it's nicole wallace, one of the first things congressman liz cheney said in the opening remarks was this. as you will see in the hearings to come, president trump believed his supporters at the capitol and i quote, we're doing what they should be doing. this is what he told his staff as they pleaded with him to call off the mob to instruct his supporters to leave. >> are you prepared now to share which witness said that and what that witness will testify even on the d o or live in these hearings? >> i'm not prepared to make that kind of disclosure. i certainly would expect that

would be presenting the sources of different information so that the public can understand how we know what we know. i think that is important part of telling the story. but at this point, i can't speak for the chair and vice chair in terms of particular witnesses, or disclosed sources of some of the information. >> congressman adam shift. chairman of the house -- january 6th investigation. so thank you. for your time tonight. this was quite an undertaking for you and all the members of the community. i know you are back at it with that morning hearing on monday. we will hopefully speak to the answer. thank you. >> thank you. >> that's interesting talking to congressman shift here. you are mind that he is a federal former federal prosecutor. also, congresswoman raskin constitutional law professor. we've got congressman gloria on the investigation who was the commander of the -- gigantic naval units. we've got people who used to

sort of helping things in this way. but liz cheney who i don't know if she is a lawyer, she certainly not a former prosecutor. she did lay this out as a prosecutor would in an opening statement in a complex trial. what we will show you is evidence that's as this. what we will show you it's evidence that shows. this what we will show you some that piece is these two things together. saying, here get ready, here are all the things that we are going to prove. and that's just classical technique for a federal prosecutor. and it's the way you, it's a way to prosecute a place to a jury. in this case, there is no jury. but the duchess department as an audience for this, it's essentially being told, listen, if you are interested in the, case we got one here for you. >> that's why i asked the question, to adam schiff, because if you are sitting here taking it in, it is flowing like a court presentation. it is flowing like hey justice department, look at this. look at this! >> even down to the. language she is using the language that corresponds with

the statutes that she has used before. and i think specifically as regards to donald trump, one of the things she did very effectively was, donald trump always had this great offense, which is basically the delusional a sociopath defects. which is basically that yes, the man literally is so deluded. and such a sociopath, that he doesn't know the facts, and he doesn't know right from wrong. and therefore, is incapable for corrupted a tenth. and this has been used multiple times. use throughout the first impeachment trial. he didn't know it was wrong. and it has been using his events, here like he really believed that he had, the all this nonsense. and, by showing us the people telling him no! you are wrong! you didn't win! >> his daughter did it. >> everyone around him to take away the delusional sociopath offense. which is again, a useful defense because it is possible. because we all know donald

trump. to say no, multiple people are telling him, all through this. it's bunk, it's garbage, it's bs. and all of that was. new the bar testimony, the campaign will where, the data guy telling, there is no there there. ivanka. like that is all testimony only the committee has got. and i found incredibly effective and knocking out what is the last stool, the last like in the school for his criminal implication here. because everything else isn't -- >> he's got one more, think one of the things about donald trump is that he does act like a mob boss. he doesn't actually say to do it. the other piece of the fence, and this is how we basically selling his tax situation too. there's no paper. i can't even. the historic to me. no one exists anymore. there is no explicit call to arms. but here is a challenge with that. he can't stop tweeting. and so he did one-time tell them what to do. and i keep coming back to that december 19th tweet. because it was the one time maybe donald trump's career, when he slipped, up and

explicitly told people what he wanted them to. do >> persistently, aides are watching this in georgia tonight. and so this intense, of the question chris, they are looking at all of those new intense elements that we saw tonight including as you say, the campaign numbers guy. coming into the president as they do, and it's hard news for them when they get. it [laughs] >> john kerry had that conversation. mitt romney had that conversation. a lot of people who had that conversation. and they hate it. but the numbers guy, walks out of the, room and no one has everything after that. it's over, it's over. so if he sees the number guys told him it was over, the attorney general told him it's bulls ships, and it's crazy stuff. and it's complete nonsense. that is very important. that ground jury in georgia about what city know and when did he know it. and then what did he do? >> we have to take a quick break which is bad news, but the good news is that as we go

to break, we are gonna hear that piece of tape that we are describing, that none of us heard before tonight, which william barr, and then the little gray snow given to us by the news gods today which is the president's daughter, responding in her own words, in terms of how she heard that, we will be right back. >> i had three discussions with the president that i can recall, one was on november 23rd, one was on december 1st and one was on december 14th. and i've been through the give and take of these discussions, and in that context, i made clear, i did not agree with the idea that the election was stolen and putting out this stuff which i told the president it was bush. it >> how did that affect your perspective of the election, when barr made that statement? >> it affected my perspective. i respect attorney general barr. so i accepted what he has said and what he was saying. and what he was saying. >> the answer that was right under their nose.

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representative perry contacted the white house in the weeks after january 6th, to seek a presidential pardon. multiple other republican congressman also sought presidential pardons for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election. >> the vice chair of the january 6th investigation, republican congresswoman liz cheney, making some of the considerable news that she made an opening statement tonight. we are going to go back to

capitol hill. our senior correspondent garrett haake joins us. we spoke with garrett just before the hearings started. he has been watching alongside with us. but with much better seats. they are, we want to get to get your take and find out what it's been like at the capitol since. >> rachel, i don't know how it played in peoples living rooms, but watching the video that was put together before that first break was like a sledgehammer to the chest for people who were here in the room. immediately after, the lawmakers coming out in tears, the police officers who were serving out on that day, coming out in tears. it was hard to watch and so is the testimony of officer edwards, who i know a little bit, who i have interviewed in the past. and i had a chance to talk about it a little bit with harry dunn, the officer here that day and who testified in the very first of these hearings. i learned something new. i learned that you trained officer edwards, when she was coming up as a capitol police

officer. and i just wonder what was going through your head as you are watching her, something you know better than anyone else, it's incredibly difficult to do. >> i had the benefit, i guess, of no one her story before you all did. so, when i heard her talking i wasn't really surprised. i was just proud. she did a fantastic job. and i couldn't be proud -- i was just so proud of her bravery. i called her she hero, in a tweet i wrote. i couldn't be proud of her. >> i was watching all the officer sitting behind her, and the widows of the officers, who obviously can't be here for this. i was thinking about you guys, this fraternity of people who didn't have that much else in common before that. talk to me about what that group was like and what it is like for you all, trying to support each other through this.

>> just having somebody there, who knows what you have been through, what you feel, that consoles you. it's very comforting. not many people know what we went through that day. even other police officers. some people -- everybody had a different story to tell that day. by these individuals that i have bonded with over these last few months, i couldn't ask for better group of support. and it's needed. because, i joked about sergeant janeiro, when chair thompson said he would play the footage. i said, all right, no crying. and next thing you know, i got tears coming down my face. and they said, man, i thought you said no crying. even in that moment, it made me smile joke about it. -- >> the mental health part of officers trying to get back to work and how challenging it has

been. what has the state -- i don't want to ask you to speak for everybody. but the challenge for the department, of getting people back to work and getting people feeling like this is a unit that works together. these are folks who can go back to doing their jobs and who maybe don't have to think about that day, every day, for the rest of their careers. >> a lot of people deal with trauma, out of sight, out of mind. i don't. confronted head on. but going through these hearings and these testimonies, you can't put it out of sight, out of mind. because it's front and center. even if you are not trying to watch it, people are talking about it. it brings off tough memories for a lot of people who don't talk about it. so, it's difficult. but it's necessary to hear. >> thank you for talking about it and thank you for talking about it with me. you said you would be here for all the rest of this hearing. we will talk again, i imagine. and ladies, you heard it there. this is somebody who knows this

better than almost anybody, both what it was like to be here that day, what it was like to testify about it. and what it's like to try to be part of this community, which is still trying to figure out how people go back to work and do their day jobs after so much violence after workplace, and a community for thousands of people in washington. >> garrett, let me just also, before we let you go, ask just to confirm and let you underscore a remark you may just before you spoke with the officer there. which was, you said you saw members of congress leaving with tears streaming down their face, people crying, having to watch that video. is that multiple members of congress that you saw in that state? >> it is. there is probably a dozen democratic members who attended the hearing tonight just to watch. weren't part of this committee. and when they took that break i was here my post, trying to see, collect interviews, talk to folks as they were coming out. and member every member i

approach was too emotional to talk about what i saw. remember, a lot of the members were in the house gallery on that day. they were evacuated, they were put in safe rooms, in some of the congressional office buildings like this one, to wait it out. and unlike their colleagues in the senate, who sat through hours long presentations, who had really been forced to watch all this video, a lot of house members didn't watch in the same detail, didn't want to watch all the violence that we've seen on that day. and we are watching that presentation, which i think told a more complete story than any other video clips i have seen, have uncovered this investigation. and it was powerfully difficult for them, for the journalists, many of us who were they, are on that day, having to watch all of that again. it was really emotionally resident in the room, i think, for anyone who had a emotional connection to that day. >> gareth haake, senior nbc news capitol hill correspondent. it's been invaluable to have you there tonight, my friend. let's bring into the

conversation tonight our friend claire mccaskill. dying to hear what you think of that second half of the hearing. i also have a specific piece of ms. cheney's statement that i want to get your response to. so, i'm going to warn you in advance. i'm going to play some of liz cheney and get your response to it. but give us your overall impression how the night went for the committee. >> i've had a very emotional. it was hard to watch. when you work in that building, and you have such respect for it and you are so honored to be able to serve their, to watch it violated like that, with that kind of venal intent, that kind of -- it was just so hard to watch. and i was obviously always impressed with the bravery that those police officers that were forced into hand to hand mortal combat that day, in how brave they were.

the thing that struck me the most about tonight -- and i think we forget this, rachel, i think we don't emphasize it often enough. donald trump is a man who has embraced immoral lying all of his life. he has been a liar throughout his adult life, in every aspect of his life, whether it's adultery, or it's his business practices, he came into the white house seeing lying as an important part of his job, that he could lie about things and get away with it. and what is stunning about tonight is that his daughter said he was lying. his attorney general said he was lying. the people who replaced his attorney general said he was lying. homeland security said he was lying. all of these people said he was lying. and like rats off of a sinking ship, they ran for the hills. and then he just got more

people around him, and thought he could get away with the ultimate lie of all. this is a liar. and the sad thing is that he has fooled so many people in this country, and that we are at this place, where he has actually considered a viable candidate to lead this country again. it's astounding! >> clare, one of the things i found myself tonight, and maybe i should've thought about this sooner -- is there being sort of two levels of risk with somebody who is willing to use the presidency for personal aims or inappropriate aims. that the powers of the presidency are immense -- and the esteem of the job is eminently soil-able in terms of what we need the u.s. presidency for in the world. so, to have somebody to want seize the presidency for bad ends is a dangerous thing. there's a dane different kind of thing, though. which is, when the country that need someone -- to defend the constitution, to

defend our system of government, to have somebody who not only is a bad actor, but who cannot or will not do what only a president can do in moments of national security violent crisis. that is a different kind of risk. that's a different kind of harm that could be done. and liz cheney talked about that tonight, in a way that put evidence together in a way that we haven't heard before. i just wanted to get your reaction to that tonight. >> you will hear that leaders on capitol hill beg to the president for help, including republican leader mccarthy, who was, quote, scared. and called multiple members of president trump's family after he could not persuade the president himself. not only did president trump refused to tell the mob to leave the capital. he placed no call to any element of the united states government to instruct that the capitol be defended. he did not call his secretary

of defense on january 6th. he did not talk to his attorney general. he did not talk to the department of homeland security. president trump gave no order to deploy the national guard that day. and he made no effort to work with the department of justice to coordinate and deploy law enforcement assets. >> the president took no action to defend the u.s. capitol that day. we can talk about his motive for that, in terms of whether or not this was the intentional violence he set out to create and was therefore enjoying it. but once the country was at that level of threat, the vice president pence tried to call in all of those assets to defend the country and the president made no call for any of them to do anything to stop the harm. does that resonate in a new way today after this hearing. i >> think it does. i think americans, as partisan as we are right now, we saw with ukraine. there is still a desire -- moments of crisis --

moments we want a president to bring us together. we really do. and a moment of crisis -- and i can picture trump, because i know exactly that dining room. i know exactly how he was sitting there, watching a bank of television screens. he watched them break those windows. he watched them attack police officers. this was the president of the united states, watching capitol police officers be attacked. and violence. and someone being shot! and he thinks it's a good thing for him. he thinks sees the world's only through what he can get. and what he can have and how good he looks. he doesn't care about anything else. and that's a sad thing. all these people think he cares about them? he doesn't care about them. he's a liar. he's a moral. and he refuses to lead a nation that desperately needed him to step up that day. i thought it was really

powerful, the way she put it that day. and i don't ever recall hearing that he never talked to anyone. >> exactly. i think we had intimations to that effect, we had the worrying hole in the white house call records, all these hours where we didn't know what happened. but hearing her say what happened, he placed no call to the u.s. government to defend the u.s. capitol, that is -- >> we will bring in our friend michael steele. michael steele, we have been focused, i think correctly, on our treatment of donald trump's conflict that day. but she didn't spay a republican election officials either. toward the end of her -- she said we don't swear an oath to the -- we take an oath to defend the u.s. constitution. and that oath must mean something. tonight, i say this to my republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible. they will come a day when donald trump is gone. but your dishonor will remain. wow!

>> if you want a definition of a mic drop, that was it. >> i thought so. >> that's one -- i just went back to the seat, like, oh my god. she just summed up -- she just summed up five years, for so many of us across the country, republican, independent and otherwise, who watched the sycophantic dog at the heel by gop leadership, geo members of the house and senate, gop party officials around the country, just kowtow to every word without shame that came out of donald trump's mouth. every action that he committed himself to. she laid out an indictment tonight that was profound, it was the, and it really, i thought, set the tone of what's about to come. that was so well done by liz

and chairman thompson. in sort of clarifying for the country -- and i really, really hope people watch this night. just take the blinders off for an evening and just understand exactly what happened a year and a half ago. because you heard this committee pace it out for you. it was unfiltered. it was wrong. it was emotional. and i think it recounted in so many ways, effectively, what we felt in the moment when we watched it the first time, in realtime. i think it will be interesting to see how people ultimately respond. but for republicans, this dishonor is the stain on your legacy. it's the stain you have to look in the mirror act every single day. because there is more coming. and liz is ready. i was watching some tweets tonight, nicole. you know how us political folks are, right? and people were up there

tweeting, talk about, oh, yeah, the polls showing that liz is down by 30 points in the state. can i tell you something? louise don't give a you know what! [laughs] >> to your point, everything was studded with evidence, a lot of it knew. and i thought one of the more effective thing she did was to take us beyond the sixth. >> yes. >> in the days that followed, no other than sean hannity and kayleigh mcenany describe the plan as including impeachment and the 25th amendment. they all thought he had to go. >> they all thought he had to go. and what was so interesting was how sheepishly and quietly they were trying to do the sort of slide out the side door. or making the quiet -- please, don, donald trump, just stop, just stop. what these folks still, to this day, fail to realize -- and it goes to exactly what's claire was saying, he don't care about you. you are the least important thing in his life. the most important thing is

him. and i think that's what's also came out this evening. >> michael steele -- i'm sorry -- >> michael, a last thing here. again, the country is deeply polarized, obviously. there is this question about what can breakthrough. but the thing i keep coming back to is, when you pull republicans -- these are people who vote republican, who are republican, who don't like joe biden, think inflation is too high,, yada yada yada, -- there is anywhere between eight and 20% of them who say, to pollsters, they don't think donald trump should run again, for instance. it's small, not their party. but they are there. and i just thought, i keep trying to mentally model those folks. these are not the never trumpers. and they are -- but they do exist. and they are marginally, massively important in the electorate. because of that. and just your thoughts around how that voter gets information?

>> yeah, chris, i'm glad you brought that up. it's one of the great frustrations for a lot of us republicans, those of us, particularly though he's still inside the party. we call ourselves motel six republicans. trying to keep the lights on. but the point you just put your finger on is very important. because a lot of people write stories and paint with very broad brushes. and the party he's not that broadly aligned the way people think. and in fact, i reference a little bit earlier before the hearing, that there is new polling out right now that is showing accountability conservatives, which is about 25% of the broader republican base, who are intensely interested in how this narrative plays out. and want to see what happens from this. because they want accountability. that's a lot of republicans. you wouldn't know that from some stories that are being told. not just fox, baby, trust me.

it's a lot bigger and a lot broader. we don't need fox on to know what is going on. and i think a lot of people missed that, because they want to write in such broad strokes. >> all right, former rnc chairman michael steele. sorry, thank you, as always, it's great to have you with us tonight. we are going to take a teeny, tiny, tiny, tiny little break, stay with us. >> in our country we don't swear an oath to an individual or party. we take an oath to defend the united states constitution. and that oath must mean something. tonight, i say this to my republican colleagues, who are defending the indefensible. there will come a day when donald trump is gone. but your dishonor will remain. bles shingles doesn't care. we've still got the best moves you've ever seen good for you, but shingles doesn't care. because 1 in 3 people will get shingles, you need protection. but, no matter how healthy you feel,

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this evening. already, also joining us tonight is our friend dan goldman, who has had a very unique perspective on these types of proceedings, haven't been counsel to the impeachment effort against donald trump. dan, great to have you here. great to have you here. dan, let me go to you first, and let me get your first reaction around how this went this evening. i >> thought it was devastating. i thought liz cheney, in particular, going down through the hearings all's enabled her to lay out all of the evidence that they have. and in particular, what we learned through -- you have been talking about it all night -- through so many witnesses, that donald trump knew exactly what he was doing. and that his allegations of fraud were bogus. and that he was told that over and over and over again. and when i said on twitter -- and i mean it -- and i haven't said this before, rachel, you and i have talked,

nicole, lawrence. we have all talked about what the evidence is of donald trump's potential criminal guilt. and what we watched tonight was ranging. it was moving. but what donald trump should be seeing our handcuffs. >> wow. >> already, on that point, the presidents criminal intent, as dan put it, he knew what he was doing. he knew that the allegations of fraud were bunk. was that case made? and does it have the implications that dan is describing? >> it was a very strong case. this didn't feel like the usual congressional hearing. it felt much closer to a prosecutors opening argument, with testimonial, and then evidence line that went back to the president. i thought it was striking that they showed that trump knew he lost. -- he saw january 6th as the method to stay in office. that is, wanting a coup. and they wanted to block certification, either through pence, which he saw, unlikely. with this so-called sweep of lawmakers helping, with

violence, or some combination thereof. and so we saw both thompson and cheney both in their own ways taking up different parts of that prosecutors opening argument. a final point on process, rachel, this was clear and very methodical, the whole night. partly because there weren't any rabbit election denying lying republicans, interspersed throughout. and we know the reason -- but it's easy to forget. it felt more clear and more like prosecutors argument because kevin mccarthy and those people made a bet on boycotting the removal of themselves. i think it striking, because mccarthy maybe where he is by being a major, unending partisan. we saw the evidence. he's reversed himself. but to quote jay-z, sometimes the same sword that night you is the sword that could nights you. and i think this rampant partisanship, took himself out of the room tonight, which let the american people see these facts. >> dan goldman, already melber, also the teeny, tiny jay-z that

lives in inside our email burr, thank you for being with us tonight. [laughs] our coverage of this first january 6th hearing is going to continue in just a moment. we've got a special edition of the 11th hour with stephanie ruhle coming up. and you need to make your monday morning plan. on monday morning, we are going to have special live coverage of the next january 6th hearing, we now know the kind of power that these things are capable of. that starts ten eastern. and of course, monday night, we will be here with a recap of the hearing. that's eight eastern monday night. stephanie ruhle is next. don't go anywhere. e. ay!” more. no wayyyy. no waaayyy! no way! [phone ringing] hm. no way! no way! priceline. every trip is a big deal.

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